Fake flippers for a turtle

Hi Sea Fans!

Seeing as I've been spending quite a bit of time travelling, I've had time to search the internet quite a bit and I've found some cool stories to share with you guys.  So if you don't mind, I'm going to share some of them with you in between my travel stories. : )

The most exciting one was that of a turtle named Yu!  Yu lost her front flippers.

Photo: Toshifumi Kitamura / AFP

Here you can see her test driving her new flippers in her home aquarium in Kobe (western Japan).  The rubber flippers are attached to a vest slipped over her head and the vest is designed in such a way to prevent her from taking it off.

Yu weighs 96kg and is 82cm long (shell length).  In 2008, she was pulled out of a fisherman's net with one third of her right flipper and half of her left flipper missing. Naoki Kamezaki, the aquarium curator (top manager of the animal team) believes it must have been a shark attack.  With such damaged flippers, Yu could only swim at 60% of her normal speed, but 27 tries later, the team managed to make the perfect flippers for her.  Yes, they designed the flippers and redesigned the flippers 27 TIMES!!  That's dedication!

This shows you that aquarium staff are dedicated to helping the animals in their care, no matter what!  Anyone want to be an aquarist and help save marine life? :)

Have a great week Sea Fans and chat soon.
Cheers
Abby
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