I first saw green turtles in Cherating Turtle Sanctuary. Couple of adults and many hatchlings, all ‘crowded’ in a 5m x 8m (appx) kidney-shape pool. Caretaker was ‘scrubbing’ their carapace with a floor brush, to remove algae on it.
The 2nd time, in Salang, Tioman Island. 2 adult green turtles swimming freely in the open ocean. I was swimming with them :) These turtles have algae-eating fishes to clean their carapace, symbosis :D
Green turtles are named so because of the colour of their fat, which homo sapiens ‘harvest’ for soup. Homo sapiens, like monitor lizards, eat their eggs as well. The difference between homo sapiens and the lizards are:-
- lizards eat them as a source of food vs. homo sapiens eat them as a delicacy or believing they have aphrodisiac properties
- lizards eat what’s deemed enough and leave the rest alone vs. homo sapiens collect ALL of them to sell for profit
- lizards are their natural predator, in the ecosystem itself vs. homo sapiens are intruders, we are parasites
Egg collectors and eaters have been around for many, many centuries. But I personally think that practises that are incorrect, that lead to unsustainability, even if it had been a part of the culture, shouldn’t be carried on. Homo sapiens can think, and then act. Isn’t that what we are proud of, being different from animals?
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