#ittw 2022

[thewhimsyturtle]

International Turtle and Tortoise Week, Day 2 (Day 1 here)

Yesterday we talked about ways to help baby sea turtles when they are just starting out.  But it’s not just baby sea turtles who need our help:  Adult sea turtles are in danger, too!  I was so worried about my old sea turtle friend that I tried a little too enthusiastically to pull him out of harm’s way...  🤨

🌟  Two of the many better ways you can help sea turtles are reducing your plastic use and choosing responsibly caught seafood:

Say no to plastics:  So much of our trash ends up in the ocean, including plastics, which are notoriously resistant to breaking down.  🌊  Sea turtles (and other ocean critters) frequently mistake plastic for noms (are you surprised based on what you’ve seen me CHOMP?) and end up with plastic-filled insides.  Each year, an estimated more than 100 million marine animals die from eating or getting entangled in plastic.  😱  Help bring down that number by saying no to plastics as much as you can and recycling plastics that you do use!  🚫

Choose responsibly caught seafood:  If you like seafood, choose seafood that is sustainable and fished according to regulations.  🐟  Commercial fishing methods like trawling, longlines, and drift gillnets entangle and kill sea turtles and other “bycatch”.  For example, light sticks used along open ocean longlines attract sea turtles that get caught on the hooks or entangled in the lines and drown.  (Sea turtles need to come up for air to breathe!)  😢  To find turtle-friendly seafood choices, check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch for information on how sustainably different species are farmed and caught.  🌐ℹ️

[thewhimsyturtle]

International Turtle and Tortoise Week, Day 5 (Days 1, 2, 3, and 4)

Happy Earth Day!  🌿  Today is a day to shellebrate the beautiful planet we call home, from the oceans to the forests to the dandelions just past our doorstep.  🌊🌳🌼  Humans, tortoises, trees—we all need a healthy planet.  So let’s follow this year’s Earth Day theme and invest in our planet:  We all need to get involved to ensure that turtles continue to STOMP and GRUMP on planet Earth!  🌎💚🐢

[thewhimsyturtle]

International Turtle and Tortoise Week, Day 3 (Days 1 and 2)

Friend Samwise recently sent us a gorgeous beeswax tortoise candle!  🕯🐝  Like us shells, bees love delicious flowers, too.  As the weather warms up in the Northern hemisphere, letting wildflowers grow not only gives turtles and tortoises like me more to CHOMP, but also gives bees vital sources of much-needed nutrients.  We turtles and tortoises do not live in a vacuum:  Helping us shells also means helping other critters and the environment at large.  Ultimately, being more mindful of how your actions affect the environment and making more sustainable choices is one of the best ways you can help turtles and tortoises!  🌎🌟🐢

[thewhimsyturtle]

International Turtle and Tortoise Week, Day 1

The best week of the year is here, and this year it’s extra special:  It’s the 10th annual International Turtle and Tortoise Week!  A big thanks to the Turtle and Tortoise Preservation Group and Zoo Med Labs for teaming up every year to shellebrate and raise awareness about turtles and tortoises and the threats we shells face to survive.  🥳🔟💗

What better way to kick off ITTW than with a baby turtle?  🐢😍  If you ever stay near a sea turtle nesting beach, make sure to turn off your outdoor lights and close your curtains at night during hatching season.  After hatching from nests in the sand, baby sea turtles head towards the ocean by instinctively heading towards the brightest direction.  In nature, that is normally the ocean reflecting the night sky.  🌌  But when bright humans lights are nearby, baby sea turtles become disoriented, and they end up going the wrong way or, even when they do make it to the ocean, they linger longer in predator-rich nearshore waters that are brightly lit.  Help keep the beach dark when baby turtles are on the run!  🌊🚫💡

[thewhimsyturtle]

International Turtle and Tortoise Week, Day 6 (Days 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5)

Closing out this year’s ITTW with a handheld GRUMP:  Just like I need Mom to lift me up so I can find the radicchio she put on the other table (and then make her give it all to me!), turtle and tortoise species around the world need humans to lift them up out of danger from extinction.  We need people to stop damaging our habitats and hurting us shells with unsustainable practices like longline fishing.  We need humans to work together to keep the environment healthy and safe—not just for turtles and tortoises, but for all species, before it’s too late.  🤝  Can you join our team to do that, friends?  🥺🐢

[thewhimsyturtle]

International Turtle and Tortoise Week, Day 4 (Days 1, 2, and 3)

Do you remember this old tortoise friend of mine?  I first met this stern-looking shell in 2014, when I was the size of his head!  Can you believe I used to be so tiny?!  😲

Mom was prepared for how much I would grow from my itty bitty baby shell, but many people who buy tiny adorable baby turtles are not.  Every year, scores of turtles are abandoned (often in awful health) because their humans are unprepared and overwhelmed by how much work is required to take care of their turtles.  😞  Quarter-sized baby shells do not stay small and easy to manage!  I am getting close to my adult size, but many tortoise species grow much bigger than I will.  For example, baby sulcatas start out just as small as baby me, but they can grow to over 200 lb when full grown!  😳

⚠️  If you are thinking about getting a turtle (or any other pet), please research what your turtle will need to stay healthy.  We cannot emphasize this enough:  Turtles are not toys or pet rocks!  All turtles need specific habitats and diets to stay healthy.  Not only do tiny baby turtles grow into big shells, but also all turtles have very long life expectancies, sometimes over 100 years!  Can you imagine how painful it is for a turtle to live with painful deformities and medical issues for over 100 years because a careless human couldn’t be bothered to do their research?

Please do not impulse buy any animal, shelled or not!  Before bringing any animal into your life, make sure you are prepared to give them the care and attention they need for as long as they need care and attention!  🙏❤️🐢