Endangered Species You’ll See at the New England Aquarium

Blanding’s turtle

Blanding’s turtles are a freshwater species local to New England, and one of the most threatened species in the northeastern US, with possibly fewer than 3,000 individuals remaining in the region of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, New York, and Pennsylvania. Like the Australian lungfish, Blanding’s turtles are long-lived, reaching 80 or older, and they are slow to reproduce, laying their first eggs around age 20. That makes their population especially vulnerable to disruption.

The Blanding’s turtles at the Aquarium are one of our ambassador specieswhich you may spot during live animal presentations with our Visitor Educators. Behind-the-scenes, our aquarists care for these endangered turtles as part of Zoo New England’s Hatchling and Turtle Conservation through Headstarting (HATCH) program. Through HATCH, hatchling and yearling turtles get a chance to grow up and gain strength in a supportive environment during the fall and winter, getting a “head start” on life when they’re released by our team in the spring.

Zoo New England estimates that Blanding’s turtle hatchlings at Great Meadows Wildlife Refuge in Concord, MA—home to one of New England’s largest Blanding’s turtle populations—have about 30 times better odds of surviving to adulthood thanks to HATCH and other turtle conservation efforts.