Mote Marine allows closer look at sea turtles

Visitors to The Aquarium at Mote Marine Laboratory will soon be able to get even closer to the sea turtle hatchlings that we treat each year, thanks to a donation from a local family. The donation, which has helped install a new viewing window and refurbish the hospital habitat for these tiny sea turtle patients, was made by the Kukanza Family and will be unveiled Saturday.

The new viewing window will allow the public to watch as  the sea turtle hatchlings are treated. Visitors will be able to watch as the weight and measurement of each hatchling and check them for any injuries. They will also be able to watch the prep of the turtles’ meals.

After being checked, hatchlings that need further care are then admitted to the hospital and can be seen on exhibit in the newly refurbished habitat until they’re ready to return to the wild. There are 13 hatchlings in the hospital right now.

Mote’s sea turtle conservation efforts include the Hatchling Hospital, the Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Hospital, which treats older patients, the Sea Turtle Patrol team of 300 staff and volunteers who patrol beaches daily during nesting season and an active scientific research program that includes satellite tracking sea turtles to follow their journeys at sea and behavioral research on our resident (adult) sea turtles. Combined, these efforts are shedding new light on sea turtles lives so that we may help save them in the wild.