The Western Painted Turtle – Intermountain – Rocky Mountain Population (Chrysemys picta pop. 2) is British Columbia’s only native freshwater turtle species and it is provincially blue-listed.  Turtles need to obtain heat from their environment to thermoregulate.  They need to actively seek out warm microhabitats and bask in the sun to elevate their body temperature, […]

Do you know what animal enjoys basking on logs during summer, lives twenty to thirty years in the wild, and spends its winters hibernating in mud while being covered by up to half a metre of ice? If you guessed the Western Painted Turtle, then you are right! These turtles get their name from their strikingly beautiful colours.

We all love birds, but many bird populations are declining at an alarming rate due to a number of threats including habitat destruction, recreational disturbance and climate change. A new study published in September 2019, estimates that 2.9 billion birds of various species have disappeared in Canada and the United States since 1970 – a population decrease of 29 per cent.