lake champlain

Sea turtles are often seen as a “poster-child” animal for conservation efforts in coastal areas. Beaches are covered with signs, and local groups search every night for mothers’ nests so they can put up protective barriers and increase the hatching success. However, for other species of turtles, like the freshwater spiny softshell turtles (Apalone spinifera), simple protection of the nests are not currently an effective way to increase hatching success. Instead, researchers have found incubating the eggs of spiny softshell turtles more than doubled the hatching success rate, which may help save this endangered population in Québec, Canada.