Kids and adults have played with Legos for generations. The toy blocks have been used to build all sorts of fun displays and other gadgets. But in Halifax, Canada, the brightly-colored plastic bricks are allowing a rare wood turtle named Root to get much-needed exercise. A worker at Halifax’s Museum of Natural History brainstormed the Lego idea after seeing a Lego exhibit at the museum. Root lives at the museum. He is missing his right front foot, and when he would walk, his shell scraped against the ground. That caused a lot of wear and tear. Heather McKinnon Ramshaw told CBC News that she doesn't know how he lost the foot. She is the museum's animal care specialist. After seeing the Lego exhibit, Tessa Biesterfeld, who also works at the museum, came up with the idea to help Root scoot around. She built a platform made of Legos with wheels on the bottom. Root can be fastened to the platform using a small dog harness. “When I snap his harness on, it's like when he hears that snap, he's ready to go," Biesterfeld told the CBC. With the wheels, Root can glide through the museum much faster than he would walking. He has managed it well. "We didn't want to make a skateboard or make anything that would just have him zooming too unnaturally fast," Biesterfeld said. But, she added, "he's clearly going a little faster than the average wood turtle but he seems happy to do so. He's getting lots of great exercise." Wood turtles are an at-risk species in Nova Scotia. That's why McKinnon said having Root is “special.” The museum would never collect a wood turtle from the wild. Reflect: What are some ways people could use their creativity to help animals? Photo courtesy CBC and Museum of Natural History in Halifax, Canada, on Facebook.
