Snapping turtle surprises Thunder Bay, Ont., couple at camp as nesting season begins

Sarah Law · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 28, 2025 5:31 AM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

Celebrating the summertime solstice astatine her campy connected Whitefish Lake, Erika Maki stepped retired of her sauna to spot what appeared to beryllium a ample stone moving crossed the grass.

Upon person inspection, she and her husband, Edward Maki, discovered it was a snapping turtle, spanning astir a metre agelong from the extremity of its chemoreceptor to the extremity of its tail.

The prehistoric-looking carnal made its mode to the property's septic field, alternating betwixt walking and crouching earlier stopping successful a soft, sandy spot.

Then, it began to dig.

"It was huge. I couldn't judge it. I didn't cognize they came that big," said Edward Maki of Thunder Bay, Ont. "It took, I'm going to say, an hr and a fractional to 2 hours for it to excavation the hole, laic its eggs, capable it backmost successful and past leave."

It's turtle nesting play successful Ontario, and the northwest portion is location to 2 varieties: painted turtles and snapping turtles.

What amazed the Makis the astir was however acold the turtle travelled to get to their camp, which is situated good supra the water connected a tiny cliff. While they often spot painted turtles nest person to the water, they've ne'er seen a snapper ascent up to their property.

Stephen Hecnar, a biology prof astatine Lakehead University, said immoderate turtles question up to respective kilometres to instrumentality to their favourite nesting grounds each year.

LISTEN | Ed Maki/Stephen Hecnar: Turtle Power!

"They bash immoderate geonavigating wherever they tin conscionable travel the slope of the onshore and conscionable [use] ocular cues," said Hecnar. "They tin spell immoderate unthinkable distances and they truly cognize their routes and everything."

While the Makis are eagerly awaiting the eggs to hatch — and person acceptable up pylons astir the country to fto their neighbours cognize to beryllium cautious — Hecnar said it could instrumentality until September for them to drawback a glimpse of the offspring.

"Then, those small ones volition marque it down to the h2o and past they tin hibernate underwater arsenic the adults do," helium said.

Threats connected each sides

Once the pistillate turtle covers up her nest, she'll spell backmost to her accustomed foraging activities, not returning until the adjacent season.

Oftentimes, the hatchlings volition enactment successful the nest implicit the wintertime, remaining covered by the soil. While some painted and snapping turtles tin tolerate acold conditions, the debased temperatures tin origin precocious mortality rates, Hecnar explained.

"When the small ones are moving about, erstwhile they're dispersing, that's erstwhile they are much susceptible to predation, and there's tons of different animals that volition devour them erstwhile they're small," helium said.

But predators besides airs a information astatine the nests themselves. For example, astatine Point Pelee National Park successful southwestern Ontario, nest predation rates scope from 60 to 100 per cent, "and immoderate nests are conscionable wiped retired completely."

There, the superior predators are raccoons, skunks and opossums, said Hecnar.

At Point Pelee, Hecnar has helped parkland unit physique nest extortion boxes, which dwell of tiny woody cages with a surface connected top.

WATCH | This Kitchener pedagogue shares wherefore turtles are 'crucial' to nature

"When you enactment that implicit [the nest] and past enactment a mates rocks connected determination truthful the raccoons can't assistance it over, that worked truly well," helium said. "For the taxon that we did support the nests, they did travel backmost successful numbers."

However, it's important for radical to show the nests intimately to marque definite the hatchlings tin get retired safely.

"You're going to privation to beryllium determination astatine that clip truthful you tin instrumentality the container off, oregon what immoderate radical bash is they really adjacent conscionable chopped small exits successful the woody portion … close astatine the crushed level."

Across the province, 1 of the biggest threats affecting turtle taxon is roadworthy mortality, with their protective shells lone going truthful acold to shield them from the damage.

"It's important to fto radical cognize to ticker retired for them connected roads due to the fact that erstwhile they are moving about, rather often you won't beryllium looking for them," Hecnar said.

Back astatine the Maki's camp, they're readying to acceptable up a way camera toward the extremity of August successful hopes of capturing the infinitesimal erstwhile the hatchlings emerge.

"I'm hoping that we tin beryllium determination for it," Edward Maki said.