Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Seals and Sea Turtles


Hello, everyone today I will be telling about my adventures at the aquarium. I loved taking pictures here because I absolutely love all sorts of animals. No one knows how much I love animals: I saved an opossum at my house once and when I went to the beach I saved a jellyfish (I know it's crazy). As soon as we got to the aquarium, there were seals outside showing off and swimming around. This is where we come to my first picture.  I tried and tried to get a picture of this seal about a million times but it kept swimming away and jumping in and out of the water. I was really happy when I got such a great picture.




Facts about Harbor Seals:
·         Harbor Seals live up to 30 years old.
·         They can swim up to 12 mph and dive up to 500 feet.
·         When on land, they move their bodies like inchworms.
·         They are mammals that are “fin footed” or pinnipeds.
·         They live along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts.
·         They can hold their breath for about 30 minuets.  


For more facts about the seals or the seal exhibit click here.




Throughout the aquarium, we visited many animals. We visited anything and everything in between. There were sharks, turtles, frogs, stingrays, jellyfish, crabs, scorpions, starfish, snakes, lizards, and many more. When one gets through the whole aquarium, and think it cannot get any better, stop at this random pool in the middle of a room. I looked in and it is full of baby stingrays. This is called a touch pool. It was such a amazing experience to touch a stingray. They are very soft and their heads feel like sand paper. One of my favorite animals to look at is the sea turtles. The aquarium has a nursery for baby sea turtles. The turtles I looked at in Virginia are called Loggerhead Sea Turtles. While looking at these sea turtles, I captured this amazing picture



Facts about Sea Turtles:
·         Loggerhead Sea Turtles are the most common sea turtles in Virginia.
·         Sea turtles can weigh anywhere between 250 and 500 lbs.
·         Humans are one of sea turtles biggest threat.
·         It takes about 60 days for baby sea turtles to hatch.
·         Baby turtles are called hatchlings.
·         Turtles can lay up to 90 eggs in the sand.

For more facts about sea turtles, click here. For more facts about the exhibit, click here.

If someone is ever in Virginia Beach, Virginia, I would definitely recommend going to the Aquarium and Marine Science Center for a terrific time. Click here for the Aquarium's homepage.   

(Pictures Self Taken) 

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