The Blandford Nature Center has breathtaking landscapes and beautiful wildlife for all of us in West Michigan to enjoy, but how can we be sure that those landscapes, nature, and wildlife remains beautiful and available for generations to come?
The Blandford Nature Center has over 140 acres of wildlife right in the heart of Grand Rapids. Their goal is to educate, engage, and empower the community to be stewards of the natural world. They do this by introducing visitors to their animal ambassadors who can no longer survive in the wild.
Wood Turtle
Our first animal ambassador Todd met was Willow the Wood Turtle. Willow was attacked by a predator and lost her front feet, so she's no longer able to dig into the dirt and go into dormancy during the winter.
On a wood turtle's shell there are rings to determine the age of the turtle, similar to finding out the age of a tree. Willow has been with the Blandford Nature Center since 2004, but they think she's closer to 20-years-old.
The Blandford Nature Center is monitoring the populating of Wood Turtles because most turtles are experiencing habitat loss. So educators at Blandford Nature center do their best to teach others to protect their habitat of forest and streams.
Unfortunately, turtles are captured illegally for pet trade. When that turtle is removed from the wild not only is the turtle taken away from it's natural habitat, but it can't be a part of that breeding population.
Removing a turtle from the wild and having it as a pet is illegal. They're protected by the law, so Blandford Nature Center is encouraging people to leave Wood Turtles alone in the wild.
Eastern Box Turtle
The other turtle we got to meet while Todd was at Blandford Nature Center was Phillip the Eastern Box Turtle. He's very friendly towards people and is always trying to get on the move.
Phillip developed a kidney disease, and can no longer survive out in the wild unless there are people around to give him medicine.
Box Turtles are unique because they have a hinge on their plastron that allows their shells to close when they're trying to escape predators. Box Turtles can also tuck in their head all the way into their shell, and close it up.
Boxing Turtles can live up to a century, and love to eat centipedes as part of their daily diet. Many people are surprised when they hear about the food requirements and nutrients a turtle needs to live so long.
All boxing turtles have a yellow and black spotting, but the male turtle can have bright orange or red spots on their neck and shell. However the best way to determine if a Boxing Turtle is a boy or girl is by looking at their eyes. Males mostly have red eyes, whereas females have brown eyes.
The Blandford Nature Center says that if you see a Box Turtle out in the wild, report it to the Natural Michigan Features Inventory or call your local DNR. This is so environmental groups know where there are resident populations to make sure they're protected.
The Blandford Nature Center is located at 1715 Hillburn Avenue Northwest.
To learn more about the great work the Michigan Wildlife Council has highlighted, visit HereForMIOutdoors.org.
