Summer Wrap Up!
Welcome back to school! We had such a great summer here at the Aquarium and are so excited to start the upcoming school year. Before we dive into the fall, let’s wrap up this past summer!
In June, the Aquarium helped release sea turtles back into the ocean with the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center. You can read all about the release here.
Aquarium staff help release Buxton, a Loggerhead sea turtle
The Aquarium also celebrated World Oceans Day! World Oceans Day takes place every year on June 8 and is coordinated by The Ocean Project and World Ocean Network. Visitors could sign up to participate in the Better Bag Challenge, where participants commit to use reusable bags for a whole year. If you’d like to commit to the Better Bag Challenge and stop unnecessary plastic waste, you can do so online here: http://www.worldoceansday.org/challenge/ Help celebrate World Oceans Day all year-long!
A Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle made an appearance during this summer’s nesting season at the Fort Fisher State Recreation area, located right next door to the Aquarium. Kemp’s ridleys are considered to be the most endangered sea turtle, making this a unique and special event. Kemp’s ridley sea turtles usually nest off the Gulf Coast, averaging only two nest a year off the entire North Carolina coast.
The Aquarium also led a group of teens to Costa Rica to study Leatherback sea turtles. The 14 teenagers stayed at a nature preserve popular for nesting Leatherbacks without any electricity or hot water during the rainy season. The group trekked the beaches by night collecting data. During the day, they met students in Costa Rica, learned about the country’s plants and animals and experienced quite a few adventures. Stay tuned for upcoming guest posts from one of the teens and leaders of the group.
A group of teens led by two Aquarium staff hike in Costa Rica
I’d like to re-introduce myself to all of our readers. My name is Casey and I first made an appearance on this blog back in November 2014 to talk about Distance Learning. I will be updating our blog weekly and I am so excited to connect with all of our readers. Please let me know if you have any questions about the blog or the sea turtle curriculum. Speaking of curriculum, check out our new lesson plan that was posted most recently: Trapped in a Sea Turtle Nest.
This past winter I helped rehabilitate cold-stunned sea turtles
If you’ve been checking in with the sea turtle growth chart, you can see that our hatchlings (now yearlings) have continued to grow this summer. Back in the beginning of June, Turtle A weighed 1073 grams and was 19.7 cm long and Turtle B weighed 1215 grams and was 20 cm long. Now, Turtle A weighs 2065 grams and is 24.2 cm long while Turtle B weighs 2235 grams and is 24.8 cm long. For more information on what to do with those numbers, please check out our lesson: Hatchling to Yearling.
