The Florida Museum of Natural History will invite guests to dive into its sea turtle exhibit in celebration of World Sea Turtle Day on Saturday.
From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., visitors can make crafts, participate in a scavenger hunt, meet sea turtle specialists and tour the museum’s exhibit with staff from the Sea Turtle Conservancy at the free event.
Lexie Beach, the conservancy’s communications coordinator, said there will be an assortment of prizes, including sponsoring a sea turtle adoption, and the conservancy will provide reusable items to promote conservation.
“We just want to teach people that anyone can make a difference,” Beach said, “even the smallest actions like recycling or not using plastic bags, or even a student giving a presentation about sea turtles.”
The Sea Turtle Hospital at the Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience will have representatives speaking about sea turtles.
“Our goal is to push people in a different line of questioning and expand their breadth of knowledge on what it is to be a sea turtle,” said Catherine Eastman, a sea turtle program coordinator for the hospital.
She said the group will table the celebration, provide activities, answer questions and talk about the issues sea turtles are facing.
“Maybe sea turtles aren’t your thing,” Eastman said, “but we are all connected on this planet, and your efforts — regardless of where you live — can make a huge difference.”
