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Showing posts from May 1, 2011

“Crush: Cuz we were like, "woaaaah.", and I was like, "woaaaah." and you were like, "woaaahh..."” from Finding Nemo

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The coolest sea turtle evah! One of the most marvelous sites you'll ever see on the Gulf coast of Florida is a sea turtle crawling  up the beach to make a nest and lay her eggs.  The female turtle uses her flippers to dig her nest and deposit about 100 ping-pong sized eggs.  She then uses her flippers to cover & camouflage the nest then returns to the sea leaving behind her brood to hatch on their own in approximately 8 weeks.  Most turtle babies hatch at night.  They depend on the moon & stars over the Gulf of Mexico to guide them back to the water.   The trek from the nest to the beach can be treacherous for the hatchings due to predators like raccoons, fire ants, & sea birds, beach furniture and sand sculptures, & artificial lighting from condos & street lights.  In an effort to help the turtle population grow most coastal communities have laws in place to limit the environmental lighting from May 1 through October 31.  This puts a damper on one of