One Saturday in August, I took my kids to a wonderful outdoor science center in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. The center is a place where visitors can learn about animals native to the area. I was impressed that the center uses solar hot water in its bathrooms and explains how it works through an informational sign right at the faucet

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What is Environmentalism, Anyway?

While on your trip in Northern Cyprus, you may be intrigued to know that this is home to some of the most significant turtle housing beaches in the Mediterranean. The two species that live and nest in Northern Cyprus are endangered species. Just about 10% of the loggerhead and 30% of the green turtles in the Mediterranean nest in Northern Cyprus. Bearing in mind that as little as 300-400 green and 2000 loggerhead turtles are likely to live each year in the complete Mediterranean, it is critical that people do all they can to help and protect these near endangered species.

These North Cyprus Marine turtles start their lives on land, where they come out to emerge from eggs, just after 45-60 days of incubation on land and in the sand. When these turtles hatch and emerge they then begin to make the attempt to reach the sea, they swim anxiously out to sea waters where they stay put for the remaining years of their lives, the only break in this would be when a adult female will come to shore and lay her eggs.

It is projected that only one single hatchling out from two thousand will make it and survive to full adult life and maturity. As soon as they are 25-30 years old, and reach 1-2 meters in length, the adult females and males with set out and migrate to waters off nesting beaches to eat and reproduce. For the duration of a nesting season a female lays 3-4 nests, each carrying just about 100 eggs. she will nest every 1-3 years and will always return to the exact same beaches. There is no exact number on how long these marine turtles live but they have been suggested to live up to 160 years old.

They are two species of marine turtles that find themselves nesting in the North Cyprus Mediterranean and they would be the loggerhead, caretta caretta and the green turtle (chelonia mydas) the grand total number of both of these turtles has said to be a estimated 300-400 for the green and 2000 for the logghead females that nest each and every single year. Both of these species of sea turtles are endangered , more so with the green turtles. It has said to be that North Cyprus and Turkey seem to be the only nesting grounds these turtles come to love. There is over 80 beaches along North Cyprus that between may and October and monitored closely for the precious turtle activity.

While on your stay in North Cyprus and wish to see these lovely creatures you may indulge in a boating experience of the shore and see these turtles swimming, and with many places to see at night you might catch a glimpse of these night nesting turtles.

Group of Ecologists and students have been observing and helping to protect these rare animals from extinction for a number of years.

Some general information for you to keep on hand:
Mating time for these turtles is May/June
Hatching time is Aug/Sep
Nesting time is June/July

I hope that by through this article you can take away some general information on sea turtles in North Cyprus. If ever in the area on vacation or stay pay a visit to these wonderful beautiful creatures.

Visitors are welcome to observe this exciting experience!!!

Let’s face it… light pollution and sea turtles just don’t go together. Many species are on the verge of extinction… and improper outdoor lighting is a major cause. Not quite sure how this can be? Let’s look into this a little further…

Female turtles return to the same area to nest each year. If they return and find bright outdoor lighting, one of two things happens.

1) The female will simply swim on by… essentially removing herself from the breeding population.

2) She lays her eggs, and then several weeks later the hatchlings emerge under cover of darkness and begin their journey to the sea. They’ve evolved through millions of years to seek out the brightest horizon. This is generally the ocean… with crashing surf and moon and star light reflecting on the water. Unfortunately, if bright lights were installed along with some recent development, the hatchlings emerge and crawl towards the bright lights… and away from the ocean and a chance at survival. These then get run over by cars as they cross streets, wander till exhausted and are eaten by predators or simply roast in their own shells in the heat of the sun. In excess of 80% of hatchlings can die on light polluted beaches.

Many communities have enacted outdoor lighting regulations designed to come to the aid of declining sea turtle populations. These generally require the use of full cutoff fixtures. Full cutoff fixtures simply control the output of light… forcing it down towards the ground where its needed… and preventing it from shining up into the night sky… or horizontally when it can cross property lines… and illuminate turtle nesting beaches.

Starry Night Lights has a greatly expanded selection of turtle friendly outdoor lighting solutions. Working with the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, they

We are all familiar with dolphins, whales and sharks; we know what tuna and snapper look like, but what about some less familiar fish such as lizardfish, giant squid, or blind eels? There are so many lesser known animals in the depths of the ocean that we hear little or nothing about most times, it is interesting to investigate a few of these creatures and understand them a little more.

The first on our list of deep sea creatures is the fangtooth fish. This fish is one of the most evil looking ocean predators. It lives in the deep ocean and catches its prey by luring them in with glowing light organs called photophores. In such a dark abyss, fish are attracted to the light put off by the organ and once they are close enough the fangtooth fish catches them in his numerous large teeth. He looks like an underwater vampire.

Another carnivorous sea animal is the deep-sea lizardfish. These interesting fish look almost like a short snake in water. Their mouths are covered with harpoon-tipped teeth that grasp their prey and don’t let go, similar to a fish hook. These teeth are hinged so that they can flattened down when prey is going in and stand up when resisting. They don

Yet, it seems clear to many that sensible improvements-particularly those that focus on the recovery of species and not just habitats-are long overdue.

Biologists say the ESA has not seen meaningful change since it was passed in 1973. As a result, of the nearly 1300 species listed as threatened or endangered, only 10 have recovered sufficiently to be delisted. During that same period of time, over 30 species have been found to be extinct. It can be argued that even those species that have recovered over the last three decades have done so with little help from ESA.

For example, the bald eagle, which is recovered and about to be delisted, is often cited as an ESA success story. In fact, it recovered due to a ban on the use of the pesticide DDT and hunting restrictions that preceded passage of ESA. ESA specified critical habitat for the bird but, as it turned out, eagles are not particularly fussy about habitat.

After a bad hurricane season destroyed critical habitat in Florida, the birds moved into residential neighborhoods where they thrived.

The same is true of the peregrine falcon that recovered primarily due to a privately funded captive breeding program and now lives on the plentiful pigeons in the country’s largest cities.

Yet, the designation of areas as “critical habitat” are the primary tool of the old ESA. These designations do not require scientifically developed recovery plans-even though recovering species is the Act’s stated goal.

That is why Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo designed the House-passed, bipartisan Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act to require recovery plans rather than simple, arbitrary designations of critical habitat.

Such plans would be peer reviewed using best available science. Should such plans find some kind of habitat protection necessary, such protections would be put in place. If habitat proves irrelevant to recovery of a species, other, more effective means would be used.

If the Senate enacts similar legislation, we might recover considerably more than 10 species over the next 33 years.