Flying turtles: rare sea creatures nursed back to health in Mississippi
- The tiny endangered species found in Massachusetts water got so cold they could no longer swim and had to be taken by plane to an aquarium to be treated
- The cold alone can kill them and can also lead to pneumonia, shock and frostbite; they needed to be treated with antibiotics
It’s not often you see turtles flying. But that’s what happened after 40 endangered sea turtles were injured when the water off Massachusetts cooled down so quickly they were unable to swim away. They tiny animals were flown to the Mississippi Aquarium by a volunteer a pilot group known as Turtles Fly Too and are now being nursed back to health.
All are Kemp’s ridleys, the world’s smallest sea turtles and the most endangered of the six species found in US waters, the aquarium said in a news release Monday.
“All 40 of the Kemp’s ridleys are pretty small,” as little as 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram), said Alexa Delaune, the aquarium’s vice-president of veterinary services. Most showed signs of pneumonia and would be treated with antibiotics, she said.
Sea turtles can become lethargic when stunned by water that chills down around them before they can swim to warmer waters. The cold alone can kill them. It can also lead to pneumonia, shock and frostbite.
