Scientists on a mission to keep a species from disappearing

Deep within a thick wet marsh Friday afternoon in DuPage County, a trio of scientists and a reptilian army embarks on a secret mission to save the world.

Armed only with a global positioning device and three buckets filled with 70-plus infant Blanding's turtles, forest preserve ecologist Dan Thompson leads the unit. It's a long march through the wetlands, and Thompson deploys tiny turtle troopers into the swamp as they traipse through the slop. He knows he will never see most of them again.

"We don't know how many will survive," Thompson said.

For 12 years now similar missions have been carried out, but this year there's a secret weapon.

Traditionally, Thompson releases hatchlings into the marsh in an effort to repopulate an ecological system that is missing this component. The tiny soft-shelled tortoises are easier prey for raccoons and minks. However, this year's release includes three larger toddlers from Chicago's Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.

At 2 years old, the museum's turtles are four times as large as the hatchlings. One is outfitted with a radio transmitter so that its whereabouts can be tracked from time to time. These turtles are expected to have a much better chance at survival because of their age and sturdiness.

They've been pampered in captivity. Fed well and free to roam a secure area unthreatened, the museum turtles are twice the size they would be at this age in the wild, said Celeste Troon, the museum's manager of the living vertebrate collection. But they're far from domesticated.

"They live in an enclosure with mirrored glass," she said. "They're can't see the people who are around, so the natural fear is still there."

Indigenous to the Great Lakes region, Blanding's turtles are a threatened species in Illinois and endangered in other parts of the country and Canada. The secrecy of Friday's liberation is done to ensure the creatures don't become someone's pet. Which, by the way, is illegal because of their threatened status. They are released in the same area in hopes that they will thrive and breed. They are easily identifiable because of their yellow neck and chin. Their mouths are also shaped in a way that it appears as if the creatures are smiling. They have been known to live into their 70s.

"They are part of a healthy ecological system," Thompson said. "Without them, or if any single species is removed from the ecological system, the system struggles or can fail. Everything has its purpose."

In future years, more mature turtles will be released along with the forest preserve's hatchlings. Eventually, Thompson would like to conduct a study to see how well the turtles are doing that have been released.