Why did the turtle cross the road? Probably for the same reason as the chicken: to get to the other side. I recently came across my first road-crossing turtle, early in the season. He was just a little guy, parked in the sun, halfway across the road. It wasn’t a busy road, but when you move at the speed of a turtle, any road crossing is hazardous. I stopped my car and got out to give him a hand. It was obvious that his mother had told him “Never talk to strangers!”, because as I approached, he withdrew tightly into his shell. I picked him up and, after a couple of commemorative photos, set him down in what seemed like as safe a spot as possible on the other side of the road. Even though he was not disposed to communicate with me, I could tell what he was thinking: what the heck is a road doing in the middle of my home???
Good question. Certainly, in a sane world, it wouldn’t be there, running as it does through a wetland. The road is a sign of Canada’s overpopulation problem. We tend to think of overpopulation as a problem in China or India, but the fact is, there are way too many people right here in Ontario. Canada may be a large country, but most of its 30 million or so citizens live in a narrow band along the southern border. This fringe is the same region that is home to much of the country’s biodiversity, and too many people have stressed many regions to the limit. A good example is Carolinian southwestern Ontario. Although Carolinian Canada makes up just 1% of Canada’s land area, it has a greater number of flora and fauna species than any other ecosystem in Canada. One third of the rare, threatened and endangered species of Canada are found there. Ninety to 98% of the natural habitats in this region have been destroyed or altered by human activities. All that is left of the once-rich natural diversity is huddled in a scattering of parks and conservation areas.
In the case of turtles, the arrival of so many humans invading their habitat has been nothing less than a disaster. Most Ontario turtles live south of the Canadian shield. After 250 million years of residency here, when they survived even the cataclysmic forces that killed the dinosaurs, 6 of Ontario’s 8 hard-shelled turtle species are now threatened with extinction. The cause? Us.
The wetland homes of turtles have been drained or filled in at an incredible rate in the last century. Pollution and pesticides take a toll, but among the greatest hazards facing turtles are roads. In overpopulated Ontario, roads run everywhere and cars don’t stop for lumbering turtles. Many turtles are run over and killed on roads. A perfect example of our inability to control our excesses, our horrific impact on the domain of turtles, is ongoing right now in Ottawa. A planned extension of the Terry Fox Drive is poised to destroy the wetland home of a population of the threatened Blanding’s Turtle. The Sierra Club and other environmental groups are fighting to put the development on hold, but delays are likely to be temporary.
The environmental footprint of the average Canadian is a size XL…extra large! When the number of people living in a region can not be permanently maintained without depleting resources and without degrading the environment, you have a serious overpopulation problem. And in this case, the Blanding’s Turtles are the latest victims.
Willow House Chronicles 
China and India are often considered the most overpopulated countries in the world, but they are so huge…
I once read, and it could be true, that the Netherlands and Flanders (= Northern, Dutch speaking part of Belgium) are the most densely populated countries in the world (Belgium + the Netherlands have 27 million of inhabitants, and look at the surface!), so you can imagine the impact on nature and biodiversity…
Hi Anne, thanks for your input. There is really no place left on the planet that doesn’t have too many people. Some remote areas such as the Canadian north may seem empty, but they are fragile landscapes that cannot bear the weight of human populations. Thank goodness no aliens have arrived from outer space. We don’t have room for them!
Nice turtle post!
You’d think that population issues would be easy enough to solve, especially since we are a species that can (biologically, at least) communicate with each other. But it seems that this is an issue that the majority of the world, even in the “educated” West, refuses to acknowledge. My sister had four kids (telling me that she had two for me since I wasn’t going to have any – so much for my efforts to reduce the human excess), and lots of women are going for large families these days – you’d think it was the 1800s again! And small towns like where I live are encouraging families to have more kids just so the school won’t close (we had a graduating class of two a couple years ago). It’s a sad state of affairs.
Maybe the aliens could show us how to build hovercraft?
Sigh.
Wikipedia has a list of population densities by country.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_population_density
The top ones are mostly very small countries which sort of skews their results. The first significant one on there is Bangladesh with 1,126 people per square kilometer. Canada has 3.4 people per square kilometer, also not really an accurate representation. Toronto has 3,972 people per square kilometer.
Australia is in the same boat, our population hugs the habitable coastal areas elbowing out native species of flora and fauna at a fast clip.
Population growth from 1950 to 2009 exceeded the preceding 11,000 years since agriculture began .
Thank you to everyone for contributing ideas and information! It is clearly an issue that strikes a chord with each of you. Watch for Monday’s post for more about population.
Ellen, I can’t help asking…did you get the pick of the litter? : )