Sea turtles are tireless travelers. They spend most of their lives in the water. Swimming and gliding along ocean currents they can cover thousands of miles over a vast territory during their travels. Each of the eight species of sea turtles covers different portions of the earth’s waters. Scientists have been studying their travel paths by gluing radio transmitters to the backs of turtles and monitoring their movements. Recently live tracking information on these monitored turtles has been made available to the public via the Internet.The Kemp's Ridley , the smallest of sea turtles, travels throughout the Gulf of Mexico and sometimes follows the Gulf Stream currents northward along the Atlantic coast and even crosses the Atlantic to Europe and Great Britain. Almost all females return each year to a single beach—Rancho Nuevo in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas—to lay eggs.
The Institute of Marine Mammal Studies, located in Gulfport, Mississippi, recently tagged and released six of these turtles into the Gulf at the mouth of the Mississippi River. The turtles are named Skipper, Squirt, Scuter, Crush, Marlin and Terry. The information gathered by the IMMS is placed on their website http://www.imms.org/satellite_tracking.php, allowing everyone to monitor the movements of these six turtles.
Turtle Treasures features a large selection of turtle gifts for everyone that is inspired by these wonderful creatures.
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