1. E-Learning from Nature 2016-17
Classe 1A Liceo Scientifico “N. Rodolico” Prof. G. Lambardi, M. Tusa Prof.ssa Elena Cosi

2. TARTANET The Sea Turtle Recovery Center (Talamone, Tuscany, Italy)
Dott.ssa Chiara Caruso (Responsible of Tartanet)
Dott.ssa Lucia Venturi (President of Regional Park of Maremma)
Dott. Sergio Ventrella (Tuscany Observatory of Biodiversity)

5. Tuscany is the heart of the Cetacean Sanctuary “Pelagos”, whose borders extend from the coast of Tuscany and Liguria to Corse and France. “Pelagos” and the Tuscany Observatory of Biodiversity play a key role in the study and protection of cetaceans and sea turtles.

6. The Tartanet Center of Talamone (Tuscany, Italy) is dedicated to recovery, rehabilitation and release of sea turtles hospitalized in its facility. The Center is aimed to increase the knowledge of these animals, to promote protection and to implement environmental education.

7. Indeed, the students learn the biology of the sea turtle while they are feeding them, as you can see in the following video!

8. This feeding activity give us the great opportunity to see a turtle face to face!

9. ….. and to touch the little one !

10. Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta)
is a marine reptile, belonging to the family Cheloniidae .
It is an oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world.
It spends most of its life in saltwater and estuarine habitats, feeding mainly on bottom-dwelling invertebrates.
The females briefly coming ashore to lay eggs, but they have a low reproductive rate and reaches sexual maturity in the middle of their lifespan. In addition, the eggs and young loggerheads are especially vulnerable to terrestrial organisms.
In the adulthood, their great size limits predation to large marine animals, such as sharks.

11. Loggerheads are considered an endangered species and are protected by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
They are threatened by:
Accidental fishing and intentional capture
Loss of suitable nesting beaches
Introduction of exotic predators
Plastic and garbage accidentally ingested
Efforts to restore their numbers will require international cooperation, since the turtles roam vast areas of ocean and critical nesting beaches are scattered across several countries.

13. Project CARESAT Biology Department of Pisa University
The project aims to use satellite-tracking techniques (Argos system) to study the movements and migrations of loggerhead sea turtles in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Turtles are equipped with special radio-transmitters glued to their carapace, whose signals are received by satellites. Then, various processing centers use this data to localize the turtles and transmit this information to users who are monitoring the animals. The identification of the most frequented marine areas is very important for the conservation of sea turtles.