Microschips to Better Track Spiny Softshell Turtles in the Wild
For more than 20 years, Zoo de Granby has been carrying out one of its longest-running conservation programs, dedicated to the spiny softshell turtle, a threatened species in Québec. Through initiatives such as incubating eggs collected from the wild and raising young turtles until they reach a stage when their chances of survival are higher, more than 3,000 young turtles have already been released over the years.
But what happens to them once they return to the river? That is precisely what Zoo teams and their partners are now seeking to better understand.
A Turtle That Knows How to Hide!
Tracking a spiny softshell turtle in the wild is quite a challenge. Unlike many other turtle species, it spends most of its time in the water. Young turtles, in particular, bury themselves in mud or sand at the bottom of the river, making them virtually impossible to locate by sight.
To better document their survival, movements, and habitat use following release, teams are therefore turning to a discreet yet highly effective technology: PIT tags, tiny microchips containing a unique identification number.
A Microchip… and an Antenna Playing Hide-and-Seek
The microchip is implanted in the young turtle before it is released. It contains no battery and can therefore remain functional throughout the animal’s lifetime.
To locate the turtles in the river, a floating RFID antenna is manually moved across the surface of the water. When it passes near a tagged turtle, the antenna activates the microchip and detects its identification number, even if the animal is underwater or buried in the substrate. Each detection is then associated with a GPS location. Over the course of repeated surveys, biologists can gradually piece together part of each individual’s story: where it is, how it uses the river and, most importantly, whether it has survived following release.
This method represents an important advancement for the program. Young turtles are particularly difficult to track using traditional methods. Telemetry, for example, requires transmitters that are more expensive and must be small enough to be suitable for very young individuals. PIT tags, on the other hand, can be implanted in turtles weighing as little as about 15 grams.
A Veterinary Procedure Adapted to Tiny Turtles
Before heading back into the wild, the young turtles undergo a procedure performed by the Zoo’s veterinary team. Under anesthesia, a small incision is made to insert the microchip into the coelomic cavity, where it is carefully positioned before the incision is closed. This approach was developed after initial attempts to implant the microchips under the skin showed that young turtles could reject them. The new technique is therefore intended to ensure better long-term retention.
Each turtle is then closely monitored: the procedure site is checked, the turtle is weighed, and the microchip is regularly verified before release. Once veterinary clearance has been given, the turtle can return to its natural habitat.
The First Results Are Promising
In 2026, the results obtained using this new approach are encouraging. All 16 turtles fitted with a microchip were detected after being released back into the water. Eleven of them are currently being monitored in the river area targeted by the teams. These initial data already show that the method works. More importantly, they open the door to much longer-term monitoring of turtles originating from the Zoo’s conservation program.
For the teams, the goal is clear: not only to increase the number of young turtles returned to the wild, but also to better understand what happens to them once they are there.
This knowledge will help assess juvenile survival, movements, and habitat use, while providing a more precise measure of the effectiveness of the incubation and head-starting efforts carried out at the Zoo. In other words, the work does not end when a young turtle returns to the river. It continues in the field, sometimes beneath a few centimetres of mud, in search of nearly invisible signals that make it possible to follow each turtle’s journey.
This new step is a good illustration of the complementary expertise brought together through the program. Biologists, veterinarians, and animal care teams work together to give young turtles the best possible chance of survival, and then to gather the knowledge needed to further improve conservation efforts for the species.
The project is made possible through financial support from Mission Faune Zoo de Granby, the Fondation pour la biodiversité et la faune du Québec, and Nature Conservancy of Canada, as well as collaboration with the MELCCFP through the Spiny Softshell Turtle Recovery Implementation Group (GMO TME) of the Quebec Turtle Recovery Team (ERTQ).
