Turtles are Crucial to the World

Marine turtles or pawikan in Filipino are those shy and elusive turtles we rarely see in the sea and oceans, but why are they so important that the government is trying to save their slowly decreasing number? Here's why. First of all, they are a precious gift from God; moreover, it is our duty to protect them from extinction. Did you know that they maintain the balance of ecology in the oceans and seas? They keep sea grass short which helps keep the sea grass bed healthy. The sea grass bed is a breeding and and developmental ground for fish, shellfish, and crustaceans. They also maintain the beach and dune systems. The pawikan eat jellyfish, which helps prevent large "blooms" and stinging jellyfish make damage to fisheries, recreation and other maritime activities in the ocean. 

A turtle eating sea grass

Global warming is the gradual rise in the earth's temperature caused by high levels of carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere. The temperature determines their their gender:

High temperature - Hatchlings have a high chance of being female

Low temperature - Hatchlings have a high chance of being male

Temperature is in the middle of low and high - The hatchlings will be a mix of male and female

Since the temperature is high, the hatchlings have a high chance of being female and because there are less males to impregnate the female turtles, this can also decrease the population of turtles. Global warming also has an impact on ocean temperatures, making the temperatures high and altering ocean currents that are crucial to the pawikan. This also affects the food resources for not only sea turtles, but all marine creatures. 

Knowing that the pawikan is on the brink of extinction and may only be seen in encyclopedias, as a student, we should be doing our part in helping conserve these marine creatures in our own simple way. By simply picking up garbage in coastal areas, we already saved one life of a marine turtle; we should throw our garbage in the proper place and not in oceans or seas because turtles might eat them accidentally. We should not patronize ornaments, products and food made out of turtles since the poor turtles are being used just to get money. Lastly,we can also report to the authorities about the people who smuggle and catch these marine turtles.

We should always remember to take care of the pawikan not only because they are important to the ecosystem of the ocean, but because they are from God. 


"Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds in the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." - Genesis 1:26

Link

References:
http://www.conserveturtles.org/seaturtleinformation.php?page=whycareaboutseaturtles
http://www.bonaireturtles.org/explore/are-sea-turtles-worth-saving/
http://www.seaturtles.org/article.php?id=988
Collins Cobuild Advance Dictionary of English

Turtles, Pawikan, and a bit of our Field Trip

Last January, we went to the Pawikan Conservation Center (PCC) and the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP). To learn about the pawikan and how to conserve them was one of the main reasons why we had the field trip.

PCC 

BNPP

We joined the field trip because we wanted to learn about the pawikan and how to save them from extinction. We wanted to learn about nuclear power since not many people know much about this. Seeing the live pawikan and their hatchlings made us really excited, especially when we released them. Before the field trip, we expected that we will keep tons of memories of a once in a lifetime moment with the pawikan; moreover, we expected that we would be seeing different kinds of pawikan and if there's a chance, be able to release their hatchlings.

We felt very exited before the actual field trip but we were slightly sad because this would be out last field trip before leaving our beloved school, The Learning Tree. :'(

We went to two places in Bataan, particularly the PCC and the BNPP but first, we will focus on PCC. We expected to learn many things about the turtles, such as how we can save their depleting number, where they mostly lay their eggs, how to take care of them, their importance, and how we, as students can help conserve them.

The PCC is an institution that helps take care of the turtles by releasing them at a certain time so that they have a higher chance of survival. They also make people aware that these creatures are in danger of being extinct. 

We learned from PCC that turtles help maintain the ecological balance in the oceans and seas. The gender of the turtles is determined by the temperature. When the temperature is high, then the hatchling would most likely be a male. Temperature also affects the number of days when the egg will hatch. 

Releasing a pawikan

Oh, and by the way, the baby turtle above is an Olive Ridley turtle. Here are some facts about the Olive Ridley:

Common name: Olive Ridley

Scientific name: Lepidochelys olivacea 

Taxonomic classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Reptilia

Order: Testudines

Family: Cheloniidae

Genus: Lepidochelys

Species: olivacea

They have a heart-shaped carapace (top-shell) and they also are one of the most abundant turtles in the world. They are also globally distributed in the tropical regions of the South, Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans and migrate great distances between feeding and breeding grounds.

We chose the "Olive Ridley" turtle since it was the kind of turtle that we released and they looked a bit kawaii cute. 

A small Olive Ridley turtle

Olive Ridley turtles are mostly carnivorous, since they mostly feed on snails, crabs, and shrimp. However, they occasionally feed on algae and seaweed. The hatchlings are usually preyed on by crabs, big fish, and birds and worse, many people smuggle them in order to make material items like bags and our garbage (mostly non-biodegradeable)  ends up in their habitat, which can kill them. :((((

We were all able to release a marine turtle hatchling and it was the kawaii cute Olive Ridley; however, Princess wasn't able to release an Olive Ridley because she was afraid to touch it!

So, that's all for now folks! Bye-bye! :D

Pawikan - "Turtle" in Tagalog

References:

http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/turtles/oliveridley.htm

Mostly About Us

Hello there! We are a group of 6th graders from The Learning Tree who love to learn about Science and protect the environment. The members of our group are:

Stoic Age -  He loves playing MMORPG (Massively multiplayer online role-playing game) and Real Time Strategy games. Basketball, table tennis, and bowling are sports that he loves playing. Usually, he doesn't greet people he meets for the first time and prefers talking to adults than talking to children. He'd rather be alone than be in a large group of people. 

PhantomZ - He browses the Internet and watches Pewdiepie on YouTube A LOT. He's kind of smart and talented; however, he can be lazy, arrogant, and very very VERY loquacious at times. He loves to play around though he'll take things seriously when he is told to be serious.

Rosie-desu - She loves listening to Japanese songs and watching Hetalia (an anime about countries and history). You'll usually hear her say "Konnichiwa!" when greeting a person. Some of her talents include dancing ballet and playing the flute. She also plays video games like Professor Layton and Animal Crossing.

Princess - She absolutely hates *cough* loves *cough* EXO. She sings and dances in class sometimes (mostly singing). She draws often on her pad papers and gives her drawing to a classmate. Minnie Mouse is one of her (many) favorite characters. She often says "Oh my gosh!" when she messes something up. She also hates Japanese stuff but likes Hello Kitty, which is really ironic.

We made this blog to tell people about our experiences about our last field trip in 6th grade 

and our blog can serve as a remembrance of what we did when we were still in 6th grade. Our blog will help us express our opinions too! 

So, that's it for now and sayonara (goodbye in Japanese)!