May 23rd is World Turtle Day! And it's a day my sister and I have celebrated for years. Why? Two reasons:
1. We had a pet turtle named Fred when we lived in Germany. He was an adorable escape artist.
2. We love the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Heroes in a halfshell -- TURTLE POWER!
So I always do something to recognize the day. This year I think I'll read one of these new books about an unbelievable sea turtle named Yoshi who traveled an astounding distance after being released from the aquarium that rehabilitated her..
Yoshi and the Ocean: A Sea Turtle's Incredible Journey Home by Lindsay Moore (05/24/22)
In 1997, a young loggerhead sea turtle was rescued from the ocean after an injury to her shell. The fishermen who rescued her named her Yoshi and took her to the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town, South Africa. She was rehabilitated there and grew stronger—and larger!—every day. She also became one of the most popular exhibits at the aquarium. After twenty years in captivity, Yoshi was released back into the ocean and traveled more than 25,000 miles in 1,003 days to find her way home. A tracking device on her shell transmitted data about her journey to marine biologists and turtle enthusiasts of all ages around the world.
Yoshi, Sea Turtle Genius: A True Story About an Amazing Swimmer by Lynne Cox (01/10/23)
Inside every loggerhead turtle is genius: the ability to find their first home, no matter how far away. Follow one, from her birth on a beach in Australia...to her trip across an ocean filled with sharks and seahorses and much more...to her rescue from a net by a fisherman, who names her Yoshi...to her rehabilitation at an aquarium...to her record-breaking swim across the Indian Ocean to the beach on which she hatched, to lay her eggs.
