BLOGANUARY 2025 DAY 4
Ah, the wonders of Zoom. Being able to join a livestream from the Maldives, and meeting an olive ridley turtle called Nakaly: one of the many positive upshots of the Covid pandemic.
This female had been entangled in a ghost net and suffered injuries to her mouth and front flipper. I didn’t realise, but after a traumatic event, turtles often won’t dive and have to be rehabilitated until they are able to hunt once more. Olive ridley turtles eat shellfish and seaweed so feed on the bottom, and therefore have to be able to dive. They are a pelagic species, so roam the oceans in search of food, and only come ashore to lay their eggs, and only meet up with another turtle in order to mate.
When at rest, the turtles can hold their breath for 2 or 3 hours at a time, but when feeding they need to breathe 4 or 5 times an hour. I copied some of the reference images but also took the time to appreciate Nakaly when she swam close to the windows. Neus the biologist working at the Olive Ridley Project gave us such brilliant views of the turtle in her large tank, and it was such a privilege to see her up close.
These are all from the livestream. I really enjoyed drawing her and I hope she continues to recover. How can we help our marine animals? Plastic pollution, entanglement, climate change meaning a change in food stocks and currents…it’s tough out there. I don’t eat fish so I don’t have to worry about my impact from that, but we all have our part to play in other ways.
And yes, this is the last page of my Leuchtturm sketchbook, so I will do a flick-through of this half.
