Sea Turtle Conservancy

Today is the LAST DAY to order your Tour de Turtles 5k Virtual Run Shirts! You can even order a shirt if you're not participating in the race 😎 Multiple colors and styles available including tank tops and longsleeves at https://float.org/collections/stc

Contrary to what cartoons might show you, a sea turtle cannot “leave” its shell! It’s fused to the animal’s skeleton, consisting of over 50 bones including the ribcage and spine. AND unlike freshwater turtles, sea turtles cannot pull their heads or flippers back into their shells. The more you know!

: A sea turtle cannot “leave” its shell. It’s fused to the animal’s skeleton, consisting of over 50 bones including the ribcage and spine.

AND unlike freshwater turtles, sea turtles cannot pull their heads or flippers back into their shells. 🤯

Have you been following our newest satellite tracked turtles from Cyprus?? This is the first time we've expanded our tracking projects to the Mediterranean! 🇨🇾🇬🇷 Learn more about Andrea and Lara below ⬇️

Wildlife officials have relocated olive ridley sea turtle eggs from Orange County beaches to the Aquarium of the Pacific ahead of this weekend's hazardous surf, which threatens to wash away the nests. This morning, biologists carefully collected the eggs and transferred them to the Aquarium, where they will be held in a temperature-controlled environment.

Checking in with leatherback Tour de Turtles competitor Missy Shelliott! 😎 After nesting on the Caribbean shores of Panama in May, she's traveled more than 3,220 miles and has been hanging out in the warm Gulf waters eating lots of jellyfish! Follow and adopt Missy Shelliott on STC's Turtle Tracker App and website: https://conserveturtles.org/turtle/missy-shelliott/

Thanks to our friends at Green Spoon for sponsoring and naming this supa d**a fly turtle! 🐢🎤🎧

Have you signed up for Sea Turtle Conservancy’s 7th Annual Tour de Turtles Virtual 5k/10k yet?! Taking place October 30 - November 2, you can join us by running, walking, biking, swimming or skating from anywhere in the world, and get a turtley awesome medal for participating. Sign up: https://conserveturtles.org/event/tour-de-turtles-virtual-run/ 🏃‍♂️🏅

Now that it's officially fall, let's take a look back at our action-packed summer 🌞

Artificial lighting isn't just a problem for sea turtles in Florida. Sharing a sad story (and important reminder) from our friends in Folly Beach, SC. ALL of the hatchlings from a recent nest traveled directly landward toward nearby residential and commercial lights behind the nest. This photo is a rendering of the path the hatchlings traveled. Those tracks should lead to the water. Instead, this resulted in one of the most severe misorientations they have observed, with hatchlings traveling across the dunes, into parking lots, under the pier, on and under porches, and bumping into items left on the beach. Only five live hatchlings were recovered throughout the day, from dunes, porches, parking lots, and as far east as six blocks away 💔

Rendering of path hatchlings traveled from nest.