He doesn’t live in a sewer, his name isn’t Donatello, and he doesn’t ride a skateboard. Still, Root the turtle does get around on his own set of wheels. The wood turtle came to live at the Museum of Natural History in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in September, but unlike most turtles, Root is missing his right front foot. Heather McKinnon Ramshaw, the museum’s animal care specialist, says she doesn’t know how he lost the foot, but he’s been that way for a long time. Root was originally collected from the wild by Natural Resources Department personnel and brought into captivity about 20 years ago, possibly because of his missing foot. Root spends most of his time in his enclosure, which is filled with wood chips and has a container of water that he can swim around in. Three times a week, staff at the museum take him out on a little stroll. Early on, they noticed that as Root was moving around, he was scraping his bottom shell on the floor. Since one leg is essentially shorter than the other, there was some wear and tear on the shell that the staff didn’t want to get worse. That’s when naturalist Tessa Biesterfeld came up with the idea to create a platform with wheels out of Lego pieces to lift Root up higher so his shell wouldn’t get damaged. Not only is the Lego platform non-toxic, parts can be replaced as needed. It didn’t take Root long to adjust to the new wheels, and now he gets plenty of exercise. Wood turtles, which can live anywhere from 50 to 80 years, are a species at risk in Nova Scotia, so having one at the museum is quite special.
