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The Great Turtle Race in Costa Rica: April 16-April 29, but Choose Your Turtle NOW!
By Jane Goodwin | April 13, 2007
The primary nesting place for leatherback turtles is at Playa Grande in Costa Rica’s Las Baulas National Park. Leatherbacks are over 100 million years old; they once lived with the dinosaurs but managed to survive. They are, however, considered an endangered species and are protected.
James Spotila, president of The Leatherback Trust, says that "It’s time for people to rally around these ancient creatures and to understand that the actions we take - as individuals, as governments, as businesspeople - can have either a negative or positive effect on the ocean."
If you haven’t done so already, please go HERE and choose your favorite turtle. You can cheer for your turtle during the race!
Costa Rica’s beautiful Las Baulas National Park is proud to host the leatherback turtles, and to share information about them with the world. This online event will raise funds to help protect Playa Grande and raise awareness about what can be done to help protect sea turtles.
For example, don’t EVER throw a plastic bags into the ocean; the leatherback will often mistake it for a jellyfish, its primary food source.
Tourists and environmentalists come from all over the world to watch the Turtle Race in Costa Rica. From the Costa Rican shores all the way to the Galapagos Islands, the tagged turtles are tracked by satellite, and all kinds of data about geolocation, water temperature, depth, etc., are fed into many databases, to help enable scientists to develop better conservation methods and measures concerning not only the turtles, but also other marine animals and even humans.
There are many activities for people of all ages HERE. If you are a teacher, I highly recommend this website for you and your students.
The Great Turtle Race is organized by conservation Internation, the Costa Rica Ministry of Environment and Energy, The Leatherback Trust, and the Tagging of Pacific Predators (TOPP) program.
Come on down to Costa Rica and see it for yourself!
Sphere ItTopics: Travel / Relocation, Friends and Family, Lifestyle, Real Estate, Destinations, Retirement Overseas |
April 23rd, 2007 at 1:24 am
[…] blogged before about The Great Turtle Race. We told you to pick your turtle, place your bets, and sit back and watch. Now, you can track your […]
May 1st, 2007 at 8:58 am
[…] we reported earlier, the leatherback turtles had been tagged with satellite tags, and tracked over their annual […]