Blanding's turtle: A Sunny Janitor

Join host Meredith Meeker on Rarefied Podcast as she embarks on a journey into Ontario's wetlands to spotlight the Blanding's turtle. This episode details their unique features, the threats they face, and the conservation efforts led by experts like Tanisha Agarwal (she/her) from the Toronto Zoo's Adopt-a-Pond program. Learn about the zoo's headstarting initiative, ongoing research, and the critical roles these vibrant turtles play in their ecosystem. Discover how zoos contribute to wildlife conservation and engage with community science projects to protect and preserve vulnerable species.

00:00 Introduction: A Legacy in Nature

00:24 Welcome to Rarefied: Meet Your Host

00:36 Journey into Ontario's Wetlands

00:44 Spotlight on the Blanding's Turtle

01:09 Personal Encounters and Rehabilitation

02:01 How to Spot a Blanding's Turtle

02:42 Challenges and Conservation Status

03:09 Guest Introduction: Tenicia from Toronto Zoo

03:57 Blanding's Turtle Diet and Care

04:57 Toronto Zoo's Headstarting Program

08:15 Tracking and Monitoring Success

13:22 Threats to Blanding's Turtles

16:25 Community Science and Conservation Efforts

18:35 The Importance of Blanding's Turtles

20:36 Field Memories and Fun Facts

24:53 The Role of Zoos in Conservation

29:39 Career Path and Final Thoughts

31:52 Conclusion and Next Episode Teaser

Transcript

Theme Song 0:00

In every stream, in every tree, a story lives, a legacy. Let's listen close, let's take a stand, to keep the wild across the land. In every stream, in every tree, a story lives, a legacy.

0:24

Welcome you found us. Let the adventure begin. This is rarefied the podcast where we're going to learn to love some of our fairs and most imperiled species. I'm your host, Meredith Meeker. And today I hope you packed your bug juice and your waders because we are journeying into Ontario's wetlands. Let me introduce you to the Blanding's turtle. A stunning medium-sized turtle. You can't mistake for any other with its bright yellow throat and dome shell. That looks like an army helmet. It stands out from the rest of Ontario's turtles. It's shell is streaked and dotted with the same vibrant yellow that's under its chin. And to top it all off, this turtle always seems to be smiling, making it undeniably charming. I first encountered a Blanding's turtle. When I worked in wildlife rehab. And before that I had no idea we had turtle species other than snapping turtles and painted turtles. So all of a sudden there was a brand new world open to me. All of the turtles we took into the rehab center were there because they were hit by cars. A sadly common plate that we're going to hear more about later. The good news is that most turtles be treated, even though they came in with some nasty injuries. We're successfully returned to the wild, though. It could take a couple months. And while they were with us, a couple of turtles even laid eggs. And with the proper care, we were able to hatch these into tiny baby turtles. We eventually released them back into the wild, but watching the little ones swim around in our center was definitely a highlight of the job for me. And if you want to spot this beautiful creature for yourself, here's a tip. Head to a large shallow wetland that has plenty of plant life. It's best to go out on a warm sunny day, early to late spring before the summer vegetation makes spotting them even trickier. You'll also need to stay quiet, but these turtles can have excellent hearing and will quickly slip into the water at the first sign of danger. But lands. In urban or near urban areas, but offer better chances as the turtles in those habitats can sometimes be a little less shy around people. Keep in mind, these turtles hibernate or brumate as it's called for turtles after October. So you won't see them again until the ice melts in spring. While globally its population is apparently secure. It's considered vulnerable here in Canada. And in Ontario, they're classified as threatened. In the states, their status varies quite a bit state by state with some populations being critically imperiled or even extirpated in states, such as South Dakota. Additionally, there's still some strongholds keeping the population going as well. To dive deeper into the challenges these turtles face. I'm thrilled to introduce today's guests to Nisha art wall. Tenicia is a species recovery project lead at the Toronto zoo. She works with the adoptive pond program, which delivers public outreach and educational programming highlighting the Toronto zoo species recovery programs. Tenicia is passionate about science communication and enjoys sharing her love for wildlife with audiences, both young and old. We are thrilled to have her here with us to chat about Blanding's turtle. So let's get into it.

Meredith 3:43

Thank you for taking the time out of your day to chat with me and we're chatting about the Blanding's turtle, which is a beautiful turtle species here in Ontario. One of my favorites, though, it is hard to pick, are these guys fish eaters? Do they mostly eat veg or what's their diet like?

Tanisha Agarwal 4:03

wild, they are omnivores. They'll eat mostly fish, crayfish, insects as well as some plant material. But you're at the corner to, the planning center a special diet just to meet their post and sort of development. So they crickets and smelled when they get a little bit older, and then, do worms leafy greens, like kale, lettuce. And they also get a special gel that is, that has been formulated by our nutritionists at the Toronto Zoo. So this just has all kinds of vitamins and minerals force their skeletal and their bone development

Meredith 4:39

thanks. A lot of sense. Especially since. You know, they're, they're at the Toronto Zoo with you. So, you know, you have amazing dieticians and resources at your disposal that you can really tailor a well rounded and specialized diet for these animals. But maybe we're, we're getting ahead of ourselves because why are there Blanding's turtles at the Toronto Zoo? Can you tell us about your program and your work with the Blanding's turtles?

Tanisha Agarwal 5:08

so the planning strudel. Is a species at risk in Ontario. It is listed as threatened at provincial level and endangered both federally and globally. So, here at the Toronto Zoo, we are particularly interested in increasing the population of landing turtles in the Rouge River watershed. And that's sort of the area surrounding the zoo, including the Rouge National Urban Park. And so what we do is we do something called headstarting, which is where collect total eggs from the wild. And these eggs come from a stable source population. our collection of those eggs doesn't affect the source population. And then we bring to the zoo incubate them and let them hatch. Care for them for two years. You can actually see them in their first year life in the wild. At the Toronto Zoo in the Americas Pavilion, where they're actually cared for by our, our wildlife care staff. And then in their second year of life, we moved them over to the Wildlife Health Centre, where they're also cared for by our keepers. Sort of a few weeks before we released them back into, Into the wild into which National Urban Park. have them spend a little bit of time in an outdoor enclosure to sort of get them used to the elements like wind and rain and things that they might have to deal with in the wild. And so, we released them into the National Urban Park, and at the time of release, they're actually, about the size of a wild 4 to 6 year old turtle. That's at 2 years old. So another way of putting that would be two to three larger than a wild turtle of the same age. And that's, Partly because of the excellent care that they receive. So we have an excellent team of nutrition staff as well as wildlife health professionals, a welfare team, and wildlife care staff. But also because they the turtles in our care don't actually undergo brumation. So brumation sort of like a similar process to hibernation for reptiles. they're a little bit more active during brumation. But the turtles in our care don't undergo formation because when temperatures drop, we simply move them to an indoor area, and so they don't have the need you know, like, hunker down for the winter. And so they can actually continue to grow during the winter at a time when other wild would not growing. So the idea is that the if they're sort of big um, and, and, and larger, then they can have a better chance of survival in the wild, have being deal with predators, but also compete with other turtles, for resources. And then we release them into Rouge National Urban Park, that's always the most exciting part of of the work that we do. We actually chose Boosh National Urban Park because the population of Blanding's turtles that area had become very depleted. in 2012, there were only about seven adults known to be in the park. the population was essentially deemed functionally extinct. And so we decided to, really target that place for us to release turtles. And so we have over 700 turtles. so we have been releasing turtles 2014. This was our 11th year of doing that. And we scheduled to continue releases until 2034. So that's a 20 year time span for the project. And once we do release we kind of want to know what they're doing and how well they're doing. So we track via these little devices called radio transmitters. They're super small and we fix them onto the back of a turtle shell. Are less than 10 percent of the total body weight. And it gives off a little radio signal that we can then pick up using, another device called a receiver. So we go out into the wetland sites where we release the turtles and then, essentially. Try to pick up that unique signal at the, at the specific frequency, that transmitter is sort of tuned to. And so we can tune in to different frequencies, attract different turtles, they're going and how they're doing. And we actually do that throughout the year. So during the winter during other seasons. And we also take body measurements the length their body and the size of their shell and things like that, just to get an understanding of how well they're eating and how well they're surviving in the wild.

Meredith 9:07

And do you have an idea of, you know, the success of this program so far to, you know, sort of what the numbers are like now in the urban rouge, because I'm sure there's probably still some predation and some mortality, but do you have any idea of how successful, especially if, you know, these individuals have never undergone brumation. Before, like, are they still very successful in the wild?

Tanisha Agarwal 9:34

with any head starting project, with the species long lived as planning turtle, it can, be a little bit tricky sort of determine success, sort of ahead of time. Before your project ends especially because they reproduce, rather late in life. So they've only reached sexual maturity at about 18 to 20 years of age. really be able to tell the success when we see the turtles that we have released sort of reproducing, having viable offspring and having that sort of natural recruitment into the wild population. The research that we have done so far has been very promising. so we have on average across, all the turtles that we have released over the years, we have average survival rate of 85 to 90 percent, which is high, not just compared to wild turtles, but also for other head start projects. So we're very happy, with those numbers and continuing to monitor that. And you know, excitingly, some of the turtles that we released back in, like, 2014 and 2015, those turtles are now reaching, of that 13 to 15 year age mark. so, as I mentioned, the turtles that we release are often larger in size than the, uh, wild, turtles. So, the thought is we There's a possibility that they may also read sexual maturity earlier and start reproducing earlier. And that would sort of important way of determining how successful the project has, has been. But this, but this year was a particularly interesting and exciting one for us. Because back in 2022, actually, collected eggs from an adult female that we had been tracking for a while in Rouge Park. Will be our field team calls are Clementine. And had laid 11 eggs. We collected those and 10 of them have successfully incorporated into our headstart project. and they were the 2 year old headstarts were released into the booth just this year with this year's cohort. And that was a really exciting moment for us. Just to be able preserve those local genetics, and sort of bring them back into the park and just to, maintain genetic diversity and sort of make that population hopefully more resilient to unexpected changes and threats in the future.

Meredith 11:41

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, especially, you know, there's always a little bit of delays, especially, like you said, with a long lived in, you know, late to sexual maturity species and you said the project would be running until, you know, 2030s. Would the hope be then to start focusing on other populations or will it be, you know, hopefully if this population in the Rouge is sustained, it can become a source for other places more naturally, or do you know what the future plans might be? That

Tanisha Agarwal 12:14

a good question. I know that. So our goal with this particular project is to at least head started totals every year 20 years. So we've done that for 11 years, got another 90, and we're to achieve a target, sort of a population a hundred to 150 adults by the year 2040. So that means that even after our releases we'll continue to sort of monitor that population just to understand how successful. have been in meeting that goal, whether or not there is some sort of possibility and talks using that population as a source, it may be too early to say but yeah, right now we're just mostly focusing on making sure that population is reaching that self sustaining level

Meredith 13:01

makes total sense. Let's make sure the population's doing well before we, we start messing with it. And obviously this is a pretty intensive program, a lot of resources. This species is endangered globally, federally. Nationally or provincially, it's threatened, but why is it at risk? Like, what are the threats to it? Yeah, it

Tanisha Agarwal 13:25

threat, I would say, one that's sort of unfortunately common to a lot of species in Ontario, and that's, just the destruction of their habitat. So, the, with the Blandings in particular, being a wetland species, about 90 percent of Ontario's wetlands, have been destroyed or cleared in some way. And so that's obviously been very devastating to their population, so their habitat won't be cleared completely but it'll just be broken up by roads and other human infrastructure um, and so that kind of forces them into those areas, and particularly when those are roads running through their habitat. there's sort of increased risk of being struck by vehicles, cars, and then just dying because of that. And you know, a threat for all, sort of reptiles and amphibians in Ontario. But particularly for the Blandings because they are known to travel, several kilometers in search of, suitable basking sites, nesting sites, and so on. and so they're actually known as the Wanderer, so just by, you know, sort of forcing them into, sort of human areas and particularly roads that they have to cross in order to get to there. Particular nesting or basking sites. it's sort of been a huge stressor to them and a huge reason for their population dwindling. That's because of that road mortality. And apart from those, a few big ones, I would say, poaching, unfortunately, it's also quite a, a, a threat that they face, you know, you mentioned that the Blanding's is a beautiful species. It's, it's lovely to look at, but unfortunately, you know, not it's not always the best thing to be pretty especially when you're a turtle, um, there is, Sort of a demand or a market for that sort of illegal collection for the pet trade. Even though it is illegal in Ontario to have a native turtle species as a pet. And that sort of risk of poaching is also why we are generally quite careful about sort of where we collect eggs, where we release turtles. Just to sort of mitigate that threat as much as we can.

Meredith 15:25

seems like, you know, there's, there's lots of threats, you know, coming at these turtles from, from multiple angles and the work you're doing is really important to help, you know, stabilize the, the populations and, and hopefully bring them back to a sustainable level. But do you know what kind of work is being done? You know, or what actions are being done to prevent those other risks, especially like you said, road mortality.

Tanisha Agarwal 15:50

so I think, you know, there's, there's no point or there's no in sort of putting all these turtles into the park if we're not actually protecting their habitat and trying to mitigate all these other stressors. You know, there are a number great organizations out there that we work quite closely with, that will not just banning turtles, but all sort of turtles in Ontario. That have been struck by, cars and so just providing medical care. So the Ontario total conservation center comes to mind, and sort of on our part, we also have. Sort of a community science project in which of hope to engage folks total conservation, and so it's a set of a project in which folks can take a picture of a turtle that they and then send that over to us, and so that helps us understand What totals people are seeing and where and especially when it's a blending turtle. That's information that's really valuable to us to help expand our data set of where landings turtles are being found in Ontario, where they're moving and how the population is changing. And that data can also help support, know, habitat restoration projects or the installation of wildlife crossing signs and things like that. That, uh, project is, available on the iNaturalist platform, and it's called Ontario Total Tally. Folks can make an account, and search for the project on the iNaturalist platform join it and start snapping, snapping away. Yeah, apart from that, I think um, you know, just sort of trying to make threat of bird mortality we do have, wildlife crossing signs snake and turtle crossing signs, available for purchase through our website plug, torontozoo. com slash adopt a pawn, but, Yeah, I think that just, you know, just doing things like this as well, like, like I'm here talking to you and just talking to, the folks and doing outreach about why this turtle is important and what we can do to protect it some of the work that we're doing and some of the organizations that we work closely with are also on that same mission and doing the same things.

Meredith 17:44

Yeah, I mean, at least it seems like there are, there are some solutions, you know, restoration helping, you know, either like traffic calming zones. I've seen some turtle. Cool. Like crossings under roads with some turtle fencing, which I drive along highway 7 all the time and there's this beautiful wetland on both sides. And there's, you know, for a good couple of kilometers, there's turtle fencing, and then it funnels them into it into a safe place. Because I think probably due to things like your naturalist project, it was identified as like, a really high turtle mortality spot. So. Community science can make real on the ground changes. So I love your plug for your project. If people want to help out, they can join on or, you know, support adopt a pond just through your website. And so we've talked a lot about, you know, there's a lot of effort going in to save. These turtles we've talked about that they're cute and they live in wetlands, but like, why are they such an important part of our ecosystems? Like, why, why are we working so hard to, to protect these animals?

Tanisha Agarwal 18:46

The question that, sort of everyone has, right? Like, why, why do they matter? and so the planning turtle is actually a really important, wetland species because they're a crucial part of the wetland ecosystem. Um, You know, they are omnivores, so they sort of contribute to sort of effects on both plan and and populations in particular, they are known to Lots of insects as well as carrying. that's dead and body and they're actually called janitors of the weapon. You may notice at this point that they have quite a few names. But that's just because they do so much, for, for the wetland for the ecosystem. And getting rid of some of those, you know, like that carry in and some of those bugs and they're potentially helping to limit the spread of pests and disease that could actually be affecting people that are living close to wetland habitats as and sort of apart from all of those ecological ways in which they are important As I mentioned, you know, they do feature stories culture of many First Nations. So they're of huge cultural importance to us, here on Turtle Island as well.

Meredith 19:49

I, I guess I didn't really think of them as like janitors and cleaning up, but that's such an important role. And, you know, I think about some of the other species that are like, maybe are more known for that role. Like, Like vultures, like they play a huge role, but it's important to know that, you know, you don't really see vultures that often in wetlands. So it's good to know that there's other species, like picking up that job and very important for disease control and even just, you know, water quality. If we had a whole bunch of dead things. Living in our, or living in our wetlands, If we had a whole bunch of dead things in our, in our water, you know, that can start affecting human health in, in that way as well. So

Tanisha Agarwal 20:32

estimated.

Meredith 20:33

Work that they're doing. So thank you for, for sharing that. And you mentioned earlier sort of how you were tracking Blanding's turtles with like telemetry and all those things. So It sounds like maybe you get out into the field occasionally to, to work with these animals. So do you have any favorite memories working with Blanding's turtles?

Tanisha Agarwal 20:52

Yeah, for me, I mean, obviously mostly doing outreach, and so I'm spending a lot of time talking to folks and spending a lot of time at my desk. But when I do get the opportunity to go out in the field, I will absolutely jump at it. And I think the my favorite memory was when we released turtles this past summer. It was You know, it's, it's one thing to talk about, sort of, okay, well, raise these turtles and then we release them into the wild. But when you're actually out there and you're like physically holding just a tiny little turtle, that's maybe the size not even like the palm of my hand. And then you're, you know, just wishing them well and then sending them off into the wetland. something that will definitely stay with you. And it's like, it's like. Real life physical evidence that you're doing something. You're having an impact on this individual animal's life, but also on the survival as a whole. And so just getting to do that was something that I was very ecstatic about, and I hope to be doing that for several more years to come.

Meredith 21:49

Yeah, I can only imagine being like feeling or what you would feel like releasing these animals into, you know, hopefully they're forever home and being like, Good luck and, you know, wishing the individual well, but also the species and feeling like, yeah, you're helping bring back a, an animal to a place where you said they were almost functionally extinct. So that's very, very cool. And it's a really cool animal to be working with too. Like you said, they are pretty charismatic and the young ones are, I think, especially adorable. Do you have a favorite? Fun fact about Blanding's turtles or one of your favorite things about them.

Tanisha Agarwal 22:29

Well, the something that's really, fun. And something I think about every time I see a planning turtle, it's I think because of the sort of difference in coloration between their, which is like bright yellow then their the rest of their body, including their which is sort of darker. It always looks to me like sort of got a permanent smile. And they always look like they're just grinning. And I think that just kind of goes with that setup. sunshiny personality, that we've kind of given them in our heads. But I think, I something that's actually really cool um, and that I didn't know until I started in this role was you can often tell difference between the sexes by looking at sort of upper lip. So in the males, it's often a little bit darker, whereas in the females you'll see like a little lighter brown or like slightly paler. And to me, I always thought of it as the females are wearing lipstick. And that's just one way that I like to remember it. Yeah, I think those would be some really fun facts and just things that I've noticed about them while working with them.

Meredith 23:24

I really like that. And now that I know the females might be wearing a little bit of lipstick. When I go out and take photos for the Ontario turtle project, I will, you know, do a little zoom in and see if I can tell for myself, whether it's a female or not, because I never, never knew that I'd heard with. Snapping turtles, you know, maybe there's some like bigger differences, especially with like the length of their tail and things like that, but I'd never heard one for Blanding's turtle. Thank you for, for sharing that.

Tanisha Agarwal 23:53

it's, it's like of unofficial sort of ways of telling them yeah, even if just looking at their pattern, just like their bottom shell you can sort of see if it's more curved in, like sort of concave, that's a male. And then if it's more flat, then that's a female. That's like your best bet of sort of telling them apart. But I like my little lipstick trick.

Meredith 24:14

And I mean, if in the wild, it might, well, 1, if I'm just taking photos, I don't need to, for scientific reasons, I do them,

Tanisha Agarwal 24:21

Yes.

Meredith 24:22

Sometimes it's really hard to see the plastron, too, if they're, I mean, usually you see them when, when they're basking, but Yeah, really, really cool. And I'm hoping that, you know, maybe I'll get out to the, to the Rouge this spring and try and spot some. So the Toronto zoo is within the urban Rouge park,

Tanisha Agarwal 24:42

Hi.

Meredith 24:45

really important habitats around there. And I don't think people usually think like national parks. And zoos, because zoos tend to have like their own reputation, their own functions, but what role. You know, can zoos play in conservation or what role do you feel like they should be playing or they are playing?

Tanisha Agarwal 25:08

I love this question. You're absolutely right. You know, there is. An idea, of zoos as, as they thought of were, but I think right now we're at a very exciting time where zoos are sort of so much for conservation and thanks to the many resources that they have and the way that they can actually connect with the community while also sort of supporting major science and research projects. So here at the Toronto Zoo, for example, we have a number of conservation breeding programs, and so we have programs or projects for, the Eastern Massachusetts rattlesnake, loghead trike, Vancouver Island marmot, and black footed ferrets, and that's just to name sort of a few. And so that's one way in which we're sort of actively working to build populations and reintroduce into places where they have become their population have become depleted were sort of wiped out entirely. And, and the work that we do with the planning struggles is, is kind of similar to that, but more of an in situ approach where we don't actually have, adults breeding in zoo, but we are just head starting, the juveniles. But apart from that, we have, an excellent conservation science team that is dedicated to conservation research. So we have an amazing reproductive team that is doing lots of cutting edge research, including the creation and maintenance of a biobank, which is helping to maintain genetic diversity and sort of acting as a safeguard for species at risk in Canada and beyond. Many the animals in our care are sort of part what we call a species survival plan. And Sort of a collaboration between different zoos and similar institutions where we try to sort of work together to make a population management decisions and decisions on breeding, to make sure that we're having the most optimal sort of pairings and just doing what's best for the animal and for that species. And so those are just some of the ways in which, you know, we're working to directly to help some of those animals and species at risk. But we also have, you know, just an amazing like a wildlife health team animal welfare that also sort of support all of the conservation work that we do. And then apart from just like working with the animals themselves, and sort of working in the zoo. We also do some population monitoring sort of surveys of, animals in the wild. So we do that, for example, with eastern milk snakes, as well as native bat species in Ontario. And, of course, as I mentioned, we also have a number of habitat restoration projects and things like that we've done in the past. And all of that sort of helps to protect those animals and those species. but, yeah, I think that Sort of one of the, the, major advantages that a zoo has as a conservation organization is that connection with the community, right? Because a zoo is, at the end of the day, is also you know, apart from everything else that it is, it is a center for the community and for the public to, to come and learn about nature and come to appreciate nature. And so I think it just has. Like potential to sort of make those connections between people animals and conservation. And so I think we're at a very exciting time, and very excited to see where we go from here. Because I think the sky is really the limit when it comes to conservation and zoos.

Meredith 28:09

Yeah, I think for all the reasons you just mentioned, like, I, I totally agree with you. I grew up in Toronto. I grew up, you know, going on field trips to the Toronto zoo and probably the highlight of my year. Every time we got to go, because you did, you really felt connected. You really felt like it was a, it was a different learning experience than, you know, a textbook and seeing it. Animal on a page versus, you know, it might not be seeing an animal in the wild, but you do get, you know, to see it move, you get to see characteristics, you get to fall in love with them a little bit more, which without zoos, I'm sure a lot less people would care about conservation. And then, like you said, they have this really amazing team of wildlife health and. Breeding history. So they're able to apply that to these recovery programs. And yes, like you said, my, my first episode was with Hazel Wheeler and the loggerhead strike program. And so, you know, even though it wasn't a Toronto zoo episode, it was linked back to, to the work that, that zoos do. And you know, there aren't many institutions that are really set up to, to care for animals the same way as we'll say an accredited zoo. We know that there's. side of the road zoos that are not up to the same standards, but an accredited zoo, they're really doing good work for the community and for the animals. And I think that's an important message to get out there that they're not just for entertainment. They are really working for the welfare of animals. And I guess on that note, like, how did you end up at the Toronto zoo? How did you end up? In this line of work.

Tanisha Agarwal 29:45

honestly, I'm pretty new to the the conservation space working with these animals. To a university for and environmental science, but I also did literature. So I've always been kind of interested in the bits of science communication and just trying to understand all that hard core science and just really distill it down to its bare bones and then fill it up and make it a little bit fun for folks to understand. And appreciate it. And so I started working at the Toronto zoo as actually as a an intern with the climate action learning and leadership program this is a really great program youth from like sort of traditionally marginalized communities just to sort of get your foot in the door when it comes to conservation and and working with the kind of things that sue does and You know, from like, I sort of had the opportunity to the species recovery branch at the zoo and the adopt a pond butlin conservation program within the zoo, and within the branch, and I also had the opportunity to work with, some of our wildlife care staff, that actually care for the blinding turtles and that just really made me fall in love with them. And then sort of, Doing sort of outreach and and sort of education work for the conservation, projects that we have within the Species Recovery Branch sort of opened up. Sort of very happy to jump in and continue doing some of that work. Always

Meredith 31:13

you know, not just pursues, but that are able to engage youth and get them or like, you know, young professionals, early career professionals to get them hands on experience, because like you said, you know, you need that university degree. But you don't necessarily come out with like experience that's going to get you your first job, but there's a lot of programs that can give you some really good hands on experience that will, you know, get you your foot in the door. And you never know where those opportunities are going to lead. So I'm glad you landed at the zoo and I'm, I'm glad you've fallen in love with the blinding turtles and you've gotten to share that love with us.

Tanisha Agarwal 31:51

talk turtles

31:52

And that's a wrap on this episode with the blendings turtle. And Tenicia a massive thank you to her for taking the time to chat with us. And if you love this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review. It helps Brandify. Reach more people who care about our planets, breast creatures. And don't forget to follow us on Instagram at rarefied dot pod. And sign up for our newsletter on our website for updates and behind the scenes content. Next time we'll be joined by our first guests from south of the border with an animal that believe you all buzzing. You won't want to miss it. So until next time, get out there and explore the wild because every species has a story and every one of us can make a difference. Thanks for listening. And until next time happy trails.