Join The Great Turtle Race

The concept is simple -

• Contenders: 11 turtles
• Race: Costa Rica to the Galapagos
• Start: 16 April 2007
• Duration: 14 days

Place your bets!

Ok - so it’s not quite that sinister. For one, the turtles are making the journey voluntarily and two, you can’t win any money by backing the “winner”.

The Great Turtle Race is an awareness campaign organised to bring attention to the endangered leatherback sea turtle. 11 leatherback turtles were fitted with satellite tags, when they crawled up the beach at Playa Grande in Costa Rica earlier this year to lay their eggs. From 16 April you’ll be able to follow the turtles online, as they journey to their feeding grounds close to the Galapagos.

According to one of the organizers, the Leatherback Trust, the leatherbag turtle has been around for more than 65 million years, but is now greatly endangered due to - well us, humans. Turtles drown in our fishing nets, have their eggs stolen and sold as aphrodisiacs, lose their nesting grounds to tourist development, to name but a few of our acts that endanger this species.

The Great Turtle Race website is still under development, but you can learn more about the 11 turtles via the Meet The Turtles race cards complete with characteristics and nesting stats. You can also choose the turtle you wish to “cheer on” and more importantly, you can make a donation to the Leatherback Trust, should you wish to help save the leatherback turtle from extinction.

So head on over to The Great Turtle Race website to pick your winner!

Technorati Tags: travel, The Great Turtle Race, Leatherback Sea Turtle, Costa Rica, Galapagos

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