Shooting Stars & Hands in Toilets

In my past posts I have been very involved in the green and loggerhead turtles that we study and care for here at the centre, but there is another turtle species that we also work with but there are far fewer nests and we rarely see them. These guys are the freshwater nile turtles (Trionyx sp.) and unlike the sea turtles here the Trionyx turtles permanently live in Dalyan river which is their natural habitat, their features differ greatly and to the eye it is easy to tell them apart. Firstly, the Trionyx turtles have long necks with pointed noses and secondly, rather than flippers like the sea turtles they have almost paw-like flippers/legs/paws with little claws at the end.
With only 8 nests of theirs on the beach the likelihood of finding any hatchlings has been slim, but it seems we were lucky and managed to find 3 hatchlings to study and observe before releasing 1 day later.

I must admit when I first saw pictures of the trionyx adults I thought they didn't even come close to being as beautiful as the sea turtles, but as soon as I saw the hatchlings swimming about I fell instantly in love with these little critters alternating their arms and legs (for they are not flippers nor are they paws) and swimming along merrily. They have a funny way about them that I can't help but admire, and although their claws will be sharp when they are older, when holding them they almost tickled your hands!

When working within an area of conservation or rehabilitation, any animal in need is tended too regardless of the circumstances and the type of animal. So when arriving at the end of the beach after night patrol to find a gecko swimming around the toilet bowl desperately trying to get out but failing miserably, you can't help but sigh as you willingly put your hand into the slightly warm toilet water and save the poor thing as it scurries away then washing your hands for a good 5 minutes with a content heart that you saved a life. This is the life of a conservationist.

In other news, cleaning the tanks last night in absolute record time allowed Merve & I to do a little bit of star gazing for the meteor shower that I knew was starting. After settling down in chairs and pillows with lights out, no clouds and very little light pollution we saw our first few shooting stars, each one was more brilliant than the last with a few particularly bright ones making me smile from ear to ear. 34 wishes in total, and one came true that night: After around 15 stars/meteors falling to Earth like Angels falling from heaven we both decided we wanted to wish for a shooting star right in front of us, a big glittery one, with a glowing trail, so presently the next shooting star came along and we made our wish. No more than 5 minutes later and our wish had been granted, and our faces beamed. Through the girlish laughter that had appeared from pure bliss and relaxation we watched more stars & meteors crash through the atmosphere and burn up to nothing in front of our eyes before I sent Merve to bed as she had drifted to sleep with the mosquitos eyeing her up for a late dinner. I went to bed half an hour later after contemplating life and hearing the Olympic closing ceremony distantly being watched by someone in the centre and was quite happy and content with how things were in the world, if only for 30 minutes.