# @thetorontozoo on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/Dc3OxAoIP4d
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/70171950-thetorontozoo-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/83bd301f53.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-09-04T11:01:05.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Toronto Zoo (@thetorontozoo) — https://gondola.cc/thetorontozoo

## Caption

On this #NationalWildlifeDay, we’re celebrating the wildlife that calls Ontario home, and the work being done to help ensure these species continue to thrive for generations to come 🐢🦇

As part of our commitment to protecting native species, your Toronto Zoo is proud to collaborate with reverse.the.red, a global coalition bringing together zoos, aquariums, governments, conservation organizations and communities to reverse species declines through coordinated, science-based action.

Through this work, we have officially pledged to help protect Blanding’s turtles and Ontario’s eight native bat species: putting conservation into action through in-situ monitoring, research and long-term recovery efforts in the wild 🌿

Earlier this year, we were thrilled to share an important milestone from our Blanding’s Turtle Head-starting Program. For the first time, our Field Conservation team documented evidence that a turtle released through the program had reached sexual maturity and may be contributing to the next generation in the wild.

It’s an encouraging sign for a program built around the long game of conservation. Our team continues to regularly monitor this individual and others to better understand their survival, movements and behaviour: knowledge that helps us evaluate the program and strengthen future conservation efforts.

At the same time, our Guardians of Wild are taking conservation into the field for Ontario’s bats. Across the Greater Toronto Area and northern Ontario, our Field Conservation team is conducting boots-on-the-ground research to better understand bat populations, habitat use, movement and ecology.

Ontario is home to eight native bat species, and there is still much to learn about these important nocturnal mammals. By helping fill critical knowledge gaps, particularly for understudied species and populations, our research can provide experts, partners and decision-makers with stronger information to guide meaningful conservation action.

## Stats

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- **Likes:** 868
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- **Comments:** 5

## Tags

nationalwildlifeday

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