The Two Oceans Aquarium Education Foundation is in the process of releasing some of the hatchlings that have made it through the rehabilitation process.
Cape Town, South Africa (22 December 2021) – The Two Oceans Aquarium Education Foundation works to protect our oceans by raising awareness and ensuring our ocean animals are safe. They also work with turtle rehabilitation projects.
Over the years, the foundation has taken in thousands of little hatchlings and rescued larger turtles needing assistance.
Many of the turtle hatchlings rescued from beaches along our coastline are now rehabilitated and ready to head back into the wild. The team has worked tirelessly to nurse them back to health. Some were found tired and weak but mostly in good condition, while others were victims of micro-plastic pollution. Thankfully, the team takes in every hatchling that is found to save as many turtle species as possible.
So many of these hatchlings wash up on the Western Cape coastlines because when they are born on the Northern beaches in KwaZulu-Natal, they make their way into the ocean and towards the warm Agulhas current.
If a hatchling is lucky, it will be carried by the Agulhas Current as it turns east off the coast of the Western Cape and out into the warm Indian Ocean. Unfortunately, this isn’t easy for the little hatchlings, and many of them are ejected from the Agulhas Current into the cold water of the Atlantic. This water is too cold for these hatchlings to survive. They get gradually weaker and weaker as they try to return to the Agulhas – an effort that is made increasingly difficult in bad weather or if the turtle has been harmed by ingesting plastic pollution.
These weakened hatchlings inevitably wash up on the Western Cape’s coast, and without human intervention, they have no chance of surviving. We have a responsibility to help these animals.
Now that they are busy releasing the rescued turtles, they wanted to compare their smallest and largest rescued turtles. Both are Loggerhead turtles.
Side by side, Hatchlings #13 (now 234g) vs #34 (now 964g) appear in contrast to one another, though they experienced similar growth rates during their time in our Turtle Rehab. Their weight increased 5 to 6 times, and measurements doubled across both carapace length and width. Both will be released as soon as the weather allows.
“Our hatchlings are a true testament of our Turtle Rescue, Rehabilitation and Release efforts, with us being forever thankful for the public’s support received through donations to support our continued work.” – TOA Education Foundation
The Two Oceans Aquarium Education Foundation is a non-profit organisation linked to the aquarium. The TOA Education Foundation hopes to educate youth on the detrimental effects of plastic and other pollution in our oceans and on our beaches.
You can show your support for the team’s efforts by supporting the hatchling rehabilitation programme here.
Curious about how the team works? Take a look at this mini-documentary below.
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