Wildlife Wednesdays: Sea Turtles Race from Disney’s Vero Beach Resort to Ocean Foraging Grounds

It’s very exciting to see where the sea turtles go once they leave their nesting beaches near Disney’s Vero Beach Resort to find food in their favorite foraging grounds. Here’s an update on the Tour de Turtles race that was the topic of my August 3 Disney Parks Blog post.

As you can see in her Tour de Turtles map, Lightning McQueen, sponsored by Disney’s Animal Programs and Disney’s Vero Beach Resort, has taken an interesting path, swimming more than 1,103 miles and making her way toward Cuba. Rapunzel, sponsored by the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, has taken a different approach swimming 87 miles and now enjoying some tasty treats found in her foraging grounds near The Bahamas.

While the sea turtles survived Hurricane Irene, their nests were washed over by the strong waves that hit the beach. Sadly, Rapunzel’s nest was washed away by the waves during the storm. Lightning McQueen picked a higher place on the beach to lay her eggs, and, while her nest was washed over with lots of waves during the storm, we are happy to report that her nest hatched on September 21. She laid 90 eggs and 53 of them survived the storm, hatched, and are now swimming in the big ol’ blue!

Turtle Fun Facts:

• Researchers from Disney’s Animal Programs and the Sea Turtle Conservancy track the sea turtles using satellite telemetry. Guests can find out about this research and follow the tracks of the turtles when they visit the Wildlife Tracking Center in Rafiki’s Planet Watch at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. People worldwide can view the sea turtles’ progress online at www.tourdeturtles.org.
• Guests at Disney’s Vero Beach Resort and Disney’s Animal Kingdom can adopt a sea turtle nest. Find out more here. And, of course, you can help turtles year-round by taking action to reduce waste, save water and keep it clean, and reduce emissions.