Ontario Nature Blog

Following the successful ten-year run of the Ontario Reptile and Amphibian Atlas, Ontario Nature developed a Long-Term Monitoring Protocol (LTMP) to fill important knowledge gaps about Ontario’s common and at-risk snakes. Since 2019, we’ve expanded the LTMP from nine monitoring locations to over 60 sites across the province! We recently published a Story Map where ...

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In 2022, Carleton University biologist, Grégory Bulté arrived at Opinicon Lake for his first day of field work for the season. Bulté has been studying and tracking northern map turtles since 2003, returning every spring to the lake. As he went to retrieve his camera from the hibernation site, he spotted a dead turtle. He ...

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At a friend’s cottage I recently uncovered a copy of The Reptiles of Ontario published in 1939 by the Royal Ontario Museum of Zoology. It’s an artifact that thrills with the mention of the extraordinary nature once found near human settlement. It says that, in 1877, a timber rattlesnake, a species now extirpated from Ontario, ...

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When I told my parents that my brother and I would be out on a weekend to go to a snake event, they were more than skeptical. Like more than half the world’s population, they’re not particularly comfortable at the thought of being in snake habitat. Snakes are one of the most misunderstood and feared ...

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In June 2024, Ontario Nature joined Field Research in Evolution and Ecology Diversified (FREED) for an immersive five-day event at Queen’s University Biological Station. FREED events provide university students from underrepresented backgrounds in conservation with hands-on field experiences and an opportunity to connect with peers and mentors in their field of study. Teagan and Justine, ...

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