http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/magazine/03turtles-t.html?pagewanted=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Female sea turtles begin laying there hundred or more eggs, burying them into the sand of the beach in May. Then, the eggs incubate for 60 days. The hatchlings from this seasons first nest were going to be swimming into the Gulf of Mexico once the eggs hatched. This was only a few months after the explosion of the Deepwater explosion rig. In June, the Gulf was already heavily oiled and letting the baby turtles hatch there would just be a recipe for disaster. So the wildlife agencies came up with a plan to pack the sea turtle eggs layed on beaches in Alabama and Florida into styrofoam coolers and ship them to a climate-controlled warehouse that would keep them alive. After hatching, the baby turtles would then be released in to the oil-free Atlantic ocean. “We immediately knew it was more work than we could do on our own.” Luckily, there were many people out there who really loved turtles and were willing to help. They helped pack the turtles, relocate them and release them when it was time.
I think that it was really great that many people were willing to help out with the turtles and get them to safety. They should be considered heroes because without them, then the turtle population would have decreased since not all of the turtles would have been saved. But if it weren't for the whole oil spill in the first place, then none of this would have had to take place and the turtles would have been just fine. This shows that oil riggers either need to stop getting oil from near the ocean or they need to be a lot more careful so they can prevent something like this from ever happening again.
Do you think that BP will stop rigging near the ocean or keep on going?
What would have happened if the wildlife agencies hadn't came up with a plan to save the turtles?
Do you think something like this will happen again?
Will the turtles still be okay even though they are not near where they were suppose to be released if the oil spill had never happened?
Hey guys! Wow, it's so great that people want to help these sea turtles. I mean, they never did anything to us and now they are being killed because of a mistake made by us. Anyway, I found this great video about the sea turtle relocation told by a marine biologist working on the project.Enjoy:)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fox4now.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=4936912&h1=Sea%20Turtles%20Nests%20Moved%20from%20Oil%20Spill&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=265400&LaunchPageAdTag=News&activePane=info&rnd=24027422
hello! This article was really interesting marisa! It's wonderful that people are trying to help out with the sea turtles. If they hadn't tried to help out then the sea turtles could have gone endangered, and we don't need any more species on that list! They had put the sea turtles in styrofoam containers, but aren't those bad for the environment? I always remember people saying how bad they were for the environment. Maybe they have a way to recycle them now.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, i found a great article about this! check it out!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38169844/
Hello! I watched the video that you gave a link to, Maddy, and I think its great how these people are giving so much of their time and energy to help baby sea turtles before they hatch just because its the right thing to do. Like Marisa said, its only because of the oil spill that we have to worry about this, but its amazing that some people really care. I think Marisa came up with some really great questions, so here's my answer to numbers 2 and 3.
ReplyDelete2) If the wildlife agencies didn't come up with a plan, the sea turtles would all or almost all die because their first taste of water would be oil-infected. Then the sea turtle population would become almost instantaneously endangered, and it would be the fault of humans because it was because of out constant wants that this even could have happened in the first place.
3) Things like this could happen at any moment. If it is discovered that there is an environmental problem that could affect the development of a species, chances are scientists that deal with that species and where it lives will be on the case, figuring out a solution. It might not be about an oil spill, because hopefully we will be more careful in the future, but anytime there is a chance for a species to become extinct, scientists will do their best to prevent it. I know I said in an earlier comment that nature has a way things are supposed to work out, but I still think that these people are doing a good thing because this problem didn't occur naturally;it was the fault of humans.
Hey Guys, great article. I hope wildlife agencies continue to do things like this around the globe. This could prevent extinction in many different species. I really hope The turtles will survive in their new habitat. Although I fear they won't be as able adapted as if they had been born in their natural habitat, and the BP oil spill had not occured.
ReplyDeleteI found an article explaining why turtles around the world are endangered. Check it out at http://www.essortment.com/all/whyareseaturt_rhxx.htm