A living fossil, sea turtles still nest up and down the busy and overbuilt South Florida coast and travel past our shores throughout the year. The various species of ocean roaming turtle are approximately 200-300 million years old but because they lay their eggs on our beaches, scientists are able to closely study the nomadic animals. For this reason, and with modern techniques such as satellite tagging, we can occasionally glimpse closely into their mysterious lives.

Loggerhead Shell (photo by Paul Stoppi)

One of the finer specimens in the Miami Science Museum collection is a gigantic loggerhead shell. It is from a specimen estimated to be around 150 years old when it died! The shell is marked with a label that the object came from United States Customs, confiscated from someone trying to trade illegally in sea turtle paraphernalia. This is part of the reason the Museum’s collection of sea turtles, around 25 specimens, is so impressive. Even though bycatch – the accidental killing by commercial fisherman – is the greatest threat sea turtles, for many years they were hunted for their shells as luxury items, or to adorn jewelry. In some places, like in Cuba, the flippers, eggs, and head of sea turtles are still eaten by people holding on to age-old traditions, even though hunting them was banned years ago.

Green turtle specimen (photo by Paul Stoppi)

The Miami Science Museum’s very own Fernando Bretos is an expert on green turtles and he follows their movements and mating throughout the Caribbean, but mostly focusing on nesting and migrations between Florida and Cuba. Fernando is a Cuban-American who is trying to pick up the dialogue between Cuba and the United States through sea turtles. It is one of the few links in which exchange is allowed and encouraged, “maybe the only link even,” states Bretos, “and we must share information and resources to protect the animals.” Sea turtles become not just amazing animals to study and appreciate but are also fascinating to consider as a bridge between two politically embattled nations.

Green turtle specimen, close-up (photo by Paul Stoppi)

Fernando is attracted to sea turtles, not only because they are beautiful and need help, but also because he sees a link to himself. They are migratory; he has lived in Cuba, the U.S.A, and Australia. And the green turtle traveling through the Gulf Stream is particular to both his homeland of Cuba and home country of America. But he feels it’s important to understand what our changing definition of nature is. Fisheries biologist Jeremy Jackson suggests at the time of Columbus the green sea turtle population was approximately 660 million turtles. The Tortugas were named such because of this drastic overabundance, and some tales speak of sailors walking from shell to shell on over crowded beached. Indeed sea turtle was one of the primary food resource in the Caribbean. That is in contrast with the estimated 88,000 nesting females in existence today, as reported by the Sea Turtle Conservancy.

In a bittersweet moment, it is almost because of this overabundance of sea turtles in combination with the regulations now put against their trade, that the impressive collection of sea turtle specimens at the Miami Science Museum could be compiled. Through conservation and conversation they can come back, but the dialogue must remain. The collection also shows us how important sea turtles are locally in Miami. In fact, Florida’s beaches are the most important nesting site for loggerhead turtles on the planet! Even though it is 25 specimens, because the scientific community is trying to conserve the animals, a collection like the one the Miami Science Museum is actually quite impressive. It would be impossible to compile today, making it truly unique.

Turtle tracking via satellite

The image above is a satellite track from SeaTurtle.org of five green turtles that were tagged off the coast of Guanahacabibes UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in August 2012 immediately after laying eggs. Since their tagging, these five female turtles have begun their annual voyage to foraging and mating grounds. Two of the animals, one named Conchita, after Fernando’s mother, made a fast dash immediately for Florida. Conchita, whose track is labeled in green, suddenly made an abrupt turn and swam to Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula where she is now feeding on shallow sea grass beds.

It is critical to study the migratory movements of these enigmatic creatures. Without knowing where they feed, nest or travel, it is impossible to draft policies to protect them, particularly across international maritime borders.)

The Curious Vault is a bi-weekly online cabinet of curiosities featuring objects from the collection of the Miami Science Museum, presented by writer Nathaniel Sandler and Kevin Arrow, Art & Collections Manager. For more information, email karrow@miamisci.org

There are only so many hours in the day, but still, students in the second session of Digital WAVE this summer managed to build an entire 3D house in a virtual world in just 2 weeks. The goal was to show all the ways that we can use “green energy” in our houses, schools, and communities, with solar panels, wind turbines, energy-saving appliances, and lots more. During the program, they also went on a field trip to Oleta River State Park with the Museum’s Reclamation Project Director Fernando Bretos, put together electrical circuits powered by water, wind, and solar power, built and tested remotely operated vehicles, and even climbed into a real OceanGate submarine in the Museum. They also met with Mark Spalding, CEO of the Ocean Foundation, from within the virtual world. Mark (through his avatar) talked about the importance of blue carbon, which is the atmospheric carbon absorbed by coastal environments like mangroves and seagrass beds.  Students even met with a Museum employee who lives “off-the-grid” without electricity or running water – proving it can still be done! All of these experiences, along with their own research, helped students design our energy efficient virtual house. So instead of reading a lot of words to describe what Digital WAVE students did over their summer vacation, enjoy the slideshow of pictures below.  After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Testing solar powered circuits in the sunlight outside the Museum

Operating their own ROV design in a tank in the Museum's Sea Lab

Measuring trees at Oleta to determine the carbon they absorb from the air

Climbing into a real OceanGate submarine at the Museum

Designing an energy-efficient, environmentally friendly 3D virtual house

The house has a green roof, solar panels, CFL bulbs, and energy efficient appliances

Solar chimneys provide power by heating air which then rises and powers the turbine

The bathroom has CFL bulbs, a ceiling fan for cooling without AC, and a water efficient toilet

Presenting virtual 3D projects, like this wind turbine, at the Digital WAVE Family Event

The Digital WAVE students have learned a lot this summer – building their own circuits powered by wind, water, and the Sun… following through the Energy Tracker exhibits at the Museum… meeting Martin Keeley, Education Director of the Mangrove Action Project via a virtual world… going on a field trip with Fernando Bretos of the Museum’s Reclamation Project to plant mangrove seedlings… researching energy efficient and environmentally friendly technologies. All of this helped inform student projects, with the big goal to create a 3D virtual exhibit of the “greenest house in Miami.” In the virtual world, students built virtual wind turbines, attenuator buoys to harness wave energy, and solar panels, and they built a virtual house with energy efficient appliances, a green roof, and water recycling abilities. On the last day of the program, students presented their projects to family and friends at the Family Event, held at the Museum. They shared what they had created and what they had learned, and left inspired to suggest or make whatever changes they could in their homes, schools, and lives. Take a tour of our virtual house below!

Digital WAVE house, with green roof

Wind Turbine

Solar panels, compost bins, and recycling containers

CFL light bulbs and ceiling fans

Presenting student projects at the Digital WAVE Family Event

Being in south Florida, we are literally surrounded by precious natural environments – the ocean, the coral reefs, mangroves, the Everglades, to name a few. That means we are in a position to negatively affect our surroundings if we don’t pay attention, but we are also in a position to make a positive difference if we are willing to try. Thanks to Fernando Bretos and the Museum’s Reclamation Project, which works to restore mangrove environments in south Florida, Digital WAVE students were able to contribute to the restoration effort. After learning about the Reclamation Project in the morning, students saw just how interconnected everything in the world really is. Everyone was assigned to be a plant or animal in a mangrove habitat (i.e. fish, seagrass, humans, mangroves, etc), and stood in a circle. One student started out with a ball of string, and that person threw it to another person who represented a plant or animal directly connected to them by the food chain. The second person threw it to the third, and so on, until we had a literally interconnected web, showing that if one thing is in trouble, we are all in trouble. With this inspiration in mind, Fernando took the students to a mangrove restoration site on Virginia Key. Students stepped into the ankle-deep muddy water (sometimes knee-deep when you least expected it), and planted mangrove seedlings, doing their part to help all of us.

Art. Science. Mangroves. These three words are not usually put in the same sentence. But they are the core ideas behind the Museum’s Reclamation Project, which has a singular goal to help reclaim south Florida environments for nature. As part of the project, over 1,100 red mangrove seedlings growing in clear cups of water cover one exterior wall of the Museum, in a thought-provoking exhibit showing that we can all make a difference in the world. Fernando Bretos, Reclamation Project Director, Audubon TogetherGreen Fellow, and Kinship Conservation Fellow, wrote an article about the project which was recently published by Care2, the largest online community in the world for environmental activism. With over 19 million members, Care2 is a great place to help spread the word that even though the world is a big place, every person, and every little mangrove seedling, can make a difference. Click here to check out the article on Care2!