The story behind the Sea Armies' work force

What goes on behind the Sea Armies’ world? You are about to embark on a journey with us under the sea where it all started.

Why eat turtle? Why save turtle?

When we are in childhood, we always ask why when parents or adults ask us don't do this and don't do that.
Same goes to the topic today, why can't we eat turtle? And what actually turtle makes a different with others meat and makes people so interested to taste it?

You must be wondering...

Have you ever wondered how deep can a turtle dive? How fast can it crawl? Or how sturdy their shells are? Well, look no further as here are the answers to your queries:

While sadly no longer found in Malaysia, let's use the leatherback turtle as an example here. The leatherback turtle can dive to great depths, as recorded by researchers who have equipped them with depth recorders. Leatherbacks have been recorded to dive over 1000 meters deep, which exceeds that reported of any air-breathing vertebrates with the possible exceptions of elephant seals and sperm whales. The shallowest dive depth occur at dusk and the deepest depth at dawn. This is probably due to the feeding of jellyfish that concentrates below 600 meters during the day and which moves into the surface around dusk. The leatherbacks dive almost continuously with only brief intervals at the surface for air.

Frank the photographer's first attempt at following a diving leatherback before giving up at 5 meters and surfacing for sweet, sweet air.

A study in 2008 shows that during the daylight hours, diving depths of two adult green turtles was shallow, around 1 - 4 meters. Researchers assume that the turtles were deliberately moving towards their destinations during this time. Between 7 - 8pm, the turtles began a diving pattern consisting of deep dives with a mean maximum depth of 35 - 55 meters. The shallow diurnal diving begins between 6 - 7am, after the nocturnal deep-diving patterns end. The adult female observed by researches made two dives in excess of 135 meters, and one male made several dives in excess of 100 meters. These are the deepest dives ever recorded for a naturally diving green turtle.

Frank second attempt at following a diving green, but plays it safe by keeping at only 2 meters. Nice going, Frank.

Impressive, aren't they? Well, as for how fast a turtle can crawl, I leave it to your judgement with this video (Do note that they are only baby turtles, and adult turtles can crawl much faster):

Frank tried to follow the turtles by going down on all fours. Sadly, we all know how that ended and here's a YouTube video instead. Way to go, Frank.

Enough about their speed. Now on to the last question, which is how sturdy a turtle's shell can be. Well, a turtle's shell can be important in several ways. A turtle's shell is able to protect the turtle from predators, and the shells of some turtles are so thick and strong that it can resist the bite of a large crocodile.

Not to be outdone by turtles, Frank volunteered to take a picture of an adult crocodile. Frank disappeared into the wilds and was never seen again. We will miss you, Frank.

Other turtles, such as Asian river turtles, often dive very deeply, where the water pressure is severe enough to crush their lungs if it wasn't for their shells. For turtles that live in very dry places, their shell provides a shield from the sun that helps the turtle from drying out too much. So, in a sense, a turtle's shell is a Kevlar vest with a built in air-conditioner.

Here's a picture of a Kevlar. Imagine it with a built in air-conditioner. How Frank must wish he had one of these before he went into the wilds shooting crocodiles.

While a turtle may seem awesome with all these capabilities, know that they are not immortal, and are still declining in numbers due to humans. So, let us all work together in preserving these magnificent creatures for our future generations to be awed. 

Lo Khin Fu

Publicity & Creativity Team

Advanced Diploma in Mass Communication (Public Relations) Year 1

Tunku Abdul Rahman University College

What happens to the environment if turtles became extinct?

All living creatures have a role to play in the environment. Turtles are no different and among the roles they play are as follow:

1. Turtles are important as scavengers, herbivores, carnivores and often contribute significant biomass to ecosystems. They break down the energy of plant materials and convert them into protein.

2. Green turtles feed on seagrasses and seaweeds that grow on the ocean floor. These seagrasses are home to other marine life such as seahorses and also serve as breeding ground for fishes. However, they must be kept short to remain healthy and this is where the turtles come in. If turtles were to ever go extinct, seagrasses would eventually die off and this would in turn affect the marine life and eventually human life as well.

3. Beaches have a very fragile ecosystem in that they don’t get many sources of nutrients hence there is very little vegetation. Sea turtles help support this ecosystem when they nest. Reason being, of the tens of thousands of eggs that are deposited by the turtles, not all will hatch. Those that do not hatch will decay and nourish the beaches. With declining turtle population, fewer eggs are deposited and this would result in lesser vegetation and this would cause beach erosion.

4. Eggs and hatchlings are by far the most predator-vulnerable life history stages. Eggs are often eaten by semi-aquatic and terrestrial dwellers. Hatchlings fall prey to fishes, lizards, snakes, crocodilians and birds. As the population decreases there will be impact on the marine life that feed on it and in the long term result in less diversity in the marine life.

Start to save, before it's too late.

Posted by,

Lim Yisiang

Publicity & Creativity Team

Advanced Diploma In Mass Communication (Public Relations) Year 1

Tunku Abdul Rahman University College

Save The Turtles

Words can’t describe how I feel about the preparations for the conservation of turtles.

We are able to wear masks to avoid breathing in harmful air when haze is everywhere.

But!          

How about when the turtles are facing sea pollution? 

Are they able to wear masks to protect themselves?    

who is going to help turtle to identify that those plastic thrown into sea are not foods for them?

Well, below are few basic actions to protect our sea treasures:

Remove Litter

Most of the plastics in our ocean are mainly from the land. So, please do not hesitate to join any clean-up programs to reduce the impact to sea turtle.

Educate The Next Generation

You can bring your kids and families to local parks which often host events with activities about the ocean and turtles.

Make Turtle as Theme

Make your party meaningful by sharing turtle conservation information to everyone instead of hosting a traditional party. Let’s make your party meaningful!

Be Environment Friendly

You can save a turtle in your daily activities. Be a smart person; choose environmental friendly household products to reduce environment pollution. Re-use, re-use and re-use before tagging any item as a rubbish. 

Join "Connect to Conserve"

Date: 10th - 12th July 2013

Time: 10am - 5pm

Venue: TAR University College, College Hall

For more information about Connect to Conserve, kindly visit the official Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/connecttoconserve?skip_nax_wizard=true 

Lim Yao Fui

Connect to Conserve

Campaign Planning & Coordination Team
Advanced Diploma in Mass communication (Public Relations) Year 1
Tunku Abdul Rahman University College