Greetings!
We hope you enjoy following the care of Pip! Be sure to "Like" us on
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If you wish to update your email information, please reply to this message or send an email to
gstceducation@jekyllisland.com
using "Adopt-a-Sea Turtle" in the subject line.
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Rehabilitation Update
What does Pip eat?
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Pip's seafood gel diet. He/she is a small turtle and doesn't need much food!
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All of us at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center hope that you had a fun-filled Thanksgiving holiday with lots of good food! We thought that this was the perfect opportunity to talk about what Pip gets to eat while he/she is here in the hospital. When Pip first arrived, he/she was being fed small pieces of both seafood and seafood gel. The seafood we give to our sea turtles is restaurant-quality squid, herring, mackerel, and shrimp. Seafood gel is something we make here at the GSTC; it is a blended mix of seafood plus broccoli, carrots, vitamins, and unflavored gelatin. In the photo above, you can see Pip's seafood gel meal; in the photo below, Pip is about to chow down on a seafood gel cube.
Pip began eating food right away when he/she arrived. At the time, he/she was living in a small white tub. As we tried to move Pip into deeper water, we changed his/her tub to a taller gray-colored tub. Pip did not like this move and stopped eating for us. We had to revert back to the white tub for a short period until Pip started to eat regularly again. After some time had passed we tried moving Pip into a bigger gray tub again; this was successful and Pip continued to eat! You can watch a video of Pip eating in his/her gray tub by clicking
here
. Although we were offering Pip both seafood and seafood gel, he/she was eating mostly the seafood. Because the gel has extra vitamins in it, we wanted to transition Pip over to eating only seafood gel. During the week of November 4th, our husbandry team had to exercise some "tough love" with Pip - they only offered him/her seafood gel. Thankfully, Pip got the hint and started eating the gel. He/she has been eating well ever since!
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Pip moves in to eat the seafood gel cube on the bottom of the tank
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Education Connection
What do wild loggerheads eat?
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Click on the video above to watch a loggerhead sea turtle catch and eat a lobster
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Although Pip is now on a diet of seafood gel, that is not what loggerhead sea turtles in the wild eat. Loggerheads of Pip's age spend most of their time floating in beds of sargassum seaweed where they survive primarily off small invertebrates living near the surface of the ocean. When the turtles begin to grow and need larger food, they move on to eat bigger invertebrates, including jellyfish. After several years, the Sargasso Sea where juvenile turtles live does not contain food large enough for the loggerheads; they migrate back to coastal waters where they can find more substantial prey. For the rest of their lives, loggerheads eat hard-shelled creatures like blue crabs, whelks (a type of snail), and horseshoe crabs. In order to bite through the crunchy shells of these animals, loggerhead sea turtles have very large and strong jaw muscles. In fact, this species gets its name from its log-sized head that is large so that it can accomodate big jaw muscles!
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Holiday Ornaments Now Available!
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Although your adoption of Pip is symbolic, you can still bring him/her into your home on a holiday ornament! These porcelain ornaments make the perfect addition to an adoption package. Ornaments featuring Pip are available in our Gift Shop and online store. You can click
here
to purchase one. Proceeds from ornament purchases help fund the research, education, and rehabilitation work of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. Ornament quantities are limited, so act fast before they sell out!
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Did you miss a previous update on Pip?
Don't worry! You can read them all by clicking the links below.
Meet Pip
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Crawl to the Finish: Turtle Crawl 2020
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Registration for the 2020 Turtle Crawl races is now open! Join us on Jekyll Island March 14, 2020 to participate in the 5K, 10K, or beach fun run. Can't make it to Jekyll? No problem! Sign up as a ghost crawler and run from home while supporting the turtles! Proceeds from the races go back to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center to help us continue our mission of rehabilitation, research, and education.
Click
here
to learn more about the races and register!
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Please do not unsubscribe as this is the primary method of sharing the latest news about Pip's progress & future release information when it becomes available.
Donations from the Adopt-a-Sea Turtle program support the Georgia Sea Turtle Center's mission of rehabilitation, education, & research. The timeline for a patient's stay is always dependent on the turtle's health & response to care and cannot be guaranteed. As there are many environmental factors and permissions to consider when scheduling turtle releases; we do our best to share information as timely (efficiently) as possible. Our staff do their best to consider not only the turtle's health, but also our supporters like you!
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Thank you for your support!
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Sincerely,
The GSTC Education Department
Georgia Sea Turtle Center
214 Stable Road
Jekyll Island, GA 31527
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