Friend of the blog LO alerted me to The Great Turtle Race, wherein a passel of leatherback sea turtles "race" from Playa Grande in Costa Rica to the Galapagos Islands. The linked website it tracking the turtles via satellite, so you can watch their progress and root for your favorite. (I'm pulling for Stephanie Colburtle, "an intensely patriotic turtle who can fly through the water like an eagle".) There is also information there about leatherback sea turtle populations and ways you can help protect them.
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Just in time for Earth Day, the great leatherback seaturtle race across open ocean from Costa Rica to the Galapagos Islands, where they will lay their eggs. The turtles are being tracked by satellite from Playa Grande in Costa Rica to the Galapagos Islands so you can watch their progress live…
Leatherback sea turtles are almost 100 million years old but their rapid decline in population has led researchers to believe that they may be extinct in as few as 10. In an effort to learn more about these rare animals and bring attention to the cause, scientists outfitted 14 leatherbacks with…
The Great Turtle Race, an initiative by ten corporations and institutions to show that science is fun, begins today. Stephanie Coburtle, the turtle named after Stephen Colbert is Shifting Baselines' favored winner in this race from Costa Rica to their feeding grounds in the Galapagos Islands. "…
As a marine biologist by training, I naturally love the ocean and just about everything in it. So it is such a treat for me to be able to just go out and enjoy what I love. Right now, I'm in between my last job as a simple graduate and being a full time graduate student, so I've got a little free…
I'll admit to a bit of a mixed reaction. My first reaction was "Neat!. And if it can help raise awareness of Things Turtley, I'm all in favour of it.
My second reaction was bemusement at yet another example of the seemingly inexhaustible desire to turn any physical activity into a competitive sport. I'm not sure that this is an altogether positive trait.
Scott - I think you're wrong. No competitiveness = still living in caves. And liking it. Go Stephanie!