Tag archives for Sea Turtles
Digital Nomad Visits a Sea Turtle “Hospital”
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Andrew Evans, National Geographic’s Digital Nomad, recently traveled to South Padre Island in Texas. During his stay, he visited Sea Turtle Inc, an organization that helps injured sea turtles recover before releasing them back into the wild.
Andrew met a turtle named Allison at the facility. Allison is a green sea turtle that has lost three out of her four flippers, probably to a shark. Allison has been given a prosthetic fin to help her swim.
Read more about Andrew’s visit to Sea Turtle Inc and watch a video on the Digital Nomad blog.
Posted by After the ride from the mountains of Ella we stood in awe of amazing Tangalle Beach. It was not only beautiful; the Indian Ocean was as warm as a bathtub. I was so glad this was the place we chose for our longest stay.
We did a lot of fun things while we were there, one of my favorites was the turtle hatchery. They are helping save baby turtle eggs from poachers (people that steal the eggs and sell them for a lot of money) and rescue turtles that are blind and handicapped. They even rescued an Albino turtle. My friend Avery has a house in Nicaragua and they have the same poacher problem. They are also trying to save the turtles.
More Sea Turtles and Kayaking
Posted by Zane: Today, The HOEC team returned to the Cayman Turtle farm. After a quick breakfast at the hotel, we boarded the buses and were off. After a short but scenic drive, we arrived at our destination. The entrance was bright and colorful. Before we entered, a few of us noticed a small green iguana in front of the door. After we had taken many pictures, the lizard darted away.
Inside the laboratory, we met up with Dr. Walter Mustin, Ph.D., one of the turtle researchers who works at the turtle farm. He gave us a presentation about the turtles, and showed us many interesting things, such as a small, five-day-old green sea turtle, and some leathery turtle eggs. He also explained a rather fascinating theory that he formulated to explain the health of the turtles when they hatched in relation to the amount of sand that was on top of them.
After this, we all moved back outside, where we witnessed a turtle feeding session in a large tank. We were ushered along by our tour guides, and eventually arrived at an aviary, which happened to be the largest open air aviary in the Caribbean. In small groups, we entered the structure through a system of doors that were designed to to keep the birds inside from escaping.
Thanks to everyone who is following the blog and leaving comments and questions! luckstomper: The largest animal we saw on the Mastic Trail were parrots. When we were visiting the Iguana Sanctuary, we observed the iguanas and took photos, but we didn’t touch them. zanes brother: Our hotel is right on the beach and has an awesome pool that we LOVE. There’s a coral reef right off shore, and we all love our rooms!
Maddie: MaddiesDad: I saw fish and corals from above the submarine. I can’t remember what kinds of fish I saw and not much about how they looked. My favorite activity so far was when we went snorkeling. I saw so much cool fish.
Aunt Gigi: The most amazing sight so far was the sea turtles at the turtle farm. I saw babies too. I’m going back tomorrow when we are going to hold the turtles. The activities I’m most looking forward to are the turtle farm and when we are going to a different island. The submarine ride already passed but that was one of the activities I was excited about. I also really liked the blue iguanas.
My favorite part of the day was Stingray City. I loved the smooth, soft texture of the stingrays. Someone told me they were slimy at an aquarium I went to, so I was nervous to touch one until today. They weren’t slimy at all.
Sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico are some of the animals impacted by the BP oil spill. Sea turtles, such as leatherback sea turtles, lay their eggs on the beach. When the baby turtles hatch, they make their way to the water. Oil from the spill could injure the baby turtles, so the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is managing a program to relocate turtle eggs from 700 nests on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
The eggs will be hatched at a facility in Florida, and the baby turtles will be released into the ocean from beaches on the Atlantic seashore. Some turtles have already been moved, such as the ones seen above. This picture was taken as the baby turtles were released at Florida’s Cape Canaveral seashore.
Read about the baby turtles and see more pictures on National Geographic News.
Watch a video of the baby turtles being released on National Geographic Kids.
Play Great Turtle Race on National Geographic Kids.
Photograph courtesy Kim Shiflett, NASA
