What’s small (reaching a maximum size of 4.5 inches), has a shell, and a distinctive orange patch on each side of its head? A bog turtle! 🐢 This New York State native turtle is the smallest turtle species in North America! It is state listed as endangered and federally listed as threatened. It’s pretty neat that NYS has populations in the wild, but many thanks should be given to DEC, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), conservation partners, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS

It’s a bog turtle, not a big turtle. When they’re born, bog turtles are the size of a quarter. As adults, they’re only four inches. Watch as ARC Southern Appalachian Program Coordinator Mike Knoerr shows off a young bog turtle he found and some of the habitat from our bog turtle program. Although bog turtles are little, our program to recover them is big. For starters, to find remaining populations, we use machine learning that identifies habitat from aerial photography. We also often look for b

This combo of super-cute & great conservation will make your week! Bog Turtles are hatching in North Carolina! A dedicated team of conservationists are working to recover Bog Turtles in the South. One small component of this work involves keeping raccoons, opossums, and skunks out of bog turtle nests. Over 200 hatchlings have been released from caged nests in recent years on protected lands. Video: Mike Knoerr The Nature Conservancy in North Carolina, Tangled Bank Conservation Turtle Survival Al

From Bog Turtle researcher, Mike Knoerr, “Meet male 4.2 (aka Jackie Robinson). I have found this big fella more times than any other bog turtle as I often work in his fen and know where he lives (in some willow roots with 2-3 females and sometimes a bullfrog). This spring he and his lady friends were totally MIA from their usual haunts. I eventually found him ~100m away chowing down on a nightcrawler. Today, we found him and his girlfriends back under their willows. The females are just about bu