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Inspiration and information to protect Our |
Ocean Book of the Month Each month in 2006, The Ocean Project will highlight a book focused on our blue planet or environmental sustainability. Books for all age groups will be covered, non-fiction and fiction, prose and poetry. If you have a suggestion, please let us know.
Carl Safina’s voyage explores myriad diverse marine environments, ranging from tropical jungle beaches in New Guinea to the freezing waters off the coast of Newfoundland. The ever-changing cast of characters is composed of such varied actors as villagers, researchers, and animals living and working in the extremes of our world’s ocean. Safina leaves no stone unturned as he introduces the reader to poachers, fishermen, and native people who still worship the leatherback turtle. Voyage of the Turtle traces the leatherback’s path through their migration thousands of miles from feeding to breeding areas, while imparting remarkable fact after remarkable fact. For example, Safina enlightens the reader as to how the leatherback turtle can use ocean currents and orient itself to Earth’s magnetic field. The leatherback, alone among reptiles, can warm its body regardless of its surrounding temperature; and can achieve diving depths approaching one mile, deeper than any other air-breathing animal in the entire world. At the same time as he extols their almost mystical properties, Safina reminds us that the fate of the leatherback turtle, like so many other animals, rests entirely in our hands. However, he includes the hopeful illustration of old-time fishermen in Nova Scotia who insist that there were never as many of the giant turtles as swim there today. Safina leaves us hopeful for the future and motivated to act on behalf of this beautiful creature which has seen so many eons pass. Voyage of the Turtle is a wonderful read, especially for any ocean, turtle, or even dinosaur lover. Safina truly brings his readers up as close and personal with this magnificent creature as a book allows, and motivates them to appreciate the long life of the leatherback turtle by protecting their future. This book presents a valuable overall lesson in ocean conservation through a poignant illustration of one, very deserving, almost-dinosaur. Learn more about our ocean and how you can help at the Seas the Day website. This month's theme of taking better care of your home, your health and your ocean offers a variety of ways you can make a real difference.
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Voyage of the Turtle: In Pursuit of the Earth’s Last Dinosaur, by Carl Safina, transports the reader on a global journey in pursuit of what the author fondly christens as the closest thing we have left to a last-living dinosaur. Voyage of the Turtle follows this gentle giant – it can grow to one ton in size – around our ocean planet to give the reader knowledge of the past, present, and future of this wondrous creature.
© 2007 The Ocean Project - All rights reserved.
Images: © 2004 Wolcott Henry