pelf-ism is contagious

If you haven’t read about “Terrapin Independence Day”, you REALLY should spend more time reading me

Simply put:

Terrapin Independence Day is a “release of life” ceremony held every year in conjunction with Malaysia’s Independence Day on 31st August. River terrapins that have been raised in captivity in the university will be released into Setiu River, where the eggs were laid.

The first Terrapin Independence Day was held on 31st August 2005, where 150 one-year-old river terrapins were released into Setiu River after a simple opening ceremony at SK Mangkok, Setiu. About 300 people attended the release ceremony, including 2 bus loads of Buddhists who came all the way from Selangor!

The second Terrapin Independence Day was held on 9th September 2006 because the State Secretary wanted to attend the ceremony but he couldn’t make it on the 31st of August as he would be attending the National Day parade at the stadium. The opening ceremony was held at SK Penarik, which is a stone’s throw away from SK Mangkok. We released 40 two-year-old river terrapins. You may see some pictures here.

This year around, we will be celebrating the third Terrapin Independence Day on 8th September 2007. The opening ceremony will be held at SK Mangkok once again (we have decided to hold it alternately to be fair to both schools) and we’re releasing 150 50 two- and three-year-old river terrapins. Yayasan Maha Karuna, a foundation for the poor in Selangor has just volunteered to sponsor a pencil case for each of the 151 student in the school. And we are also planning a “boat parade” in which the fishermen would decorate their boats with flags and natural material (no plastics allowed) and the decorated boats would participate in a procession from SK Mangkok to the release site.

And with the release ceremony being just around the corner, I’ve been drafting some invitation letters, invitation cards and press statements (in English and Malay) and I’m trying to send them off ASAP. So now you know what I’m up to if I don’t blog as often as I’d like to

A friend of mine, Skeet, who stays in Hawaii, recently posted a picture of a sea turtle which she referred to as a green turtle (Chelonia mydas) though I swear it looked like a hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) So I did what I thought was right — I left her a comment, and said that I thought it was a hawksbill turtle because it looked like one to me!

Almost immediately, she posted another post with two more pictures of the same turtle, and one of them confirmed that it was indeed a green turtle *blushes*

So how do we differentiate a green from a hawksbill turtle?

Visually, an adult green turtle is bigger than an adult hawksbill turtle, but we are often not sure whether the turtle we’ve just encountered was an adult or a juvenile, especially if we’re not experienced enough. The average length of an adult green turtle is about 1.5m, whereas an adult hawksbill turtle is about 1m in length. Moreover, it makes a difference if you saw the turtle while you were underwater or out of water because everything looks BIGGER and CLOSER if you’re underwater

Also, the hawksbill turtle’s beak (read: mouth) looks like a hawk’s bill, which is why it is so named. The hawk-like beak enables the hawksbill turtle to bite off sponges. On the other hand, the green turtle feeds on seagrasses

Click for a complete turtle identification guide, downloaded from the Division of Fish and Wildlife Department of Planning and Natural Resources, Government of the Virgin Islands.

So the best way to differentiate a green turtle from a hawksbill turtle is to count the number of prefrontal scales on the turtle’s head. Referring to the diagram above, the green turtle has a pair of prefrontal scales, whereas the hawksbill turtle has two pairs.

Fairly easy, isn’t it?

Edited:

Well, my new best friend said that he couldn’t tell the scales apart, so I stole skeet’s picture and hopefully this gives him a better picture of what prefrontal scales look like

Related post:

I missed last week’s Photo Hunt because my blog was taken off-line. I ranted about it here.

Anyway, this week’s theme is FIVE. And as usual, my installment would be about terrapins, hohoho!

As you can see in the picture below, the river terrapin has four front claws, where as the painted terrapin (as well as most other turtles) has five.

The river terrapin’s claws are blunt (in the picture above) because we used to house them in concrete tanks with rough surfaces — in fact, I got scratched several times when I was brushing the insides of the tanks. We have since tiled the tanks as we know the sharp claws are essential for their survival once they are released.

So yea, the more recent batches of terrapins have needle-sharp claws that made it very difficult and torturous (for me) to weigh and measure them as they tend to scratch (and bleed) me. Mum advised me to wear a pair of heavy-duty rubber gloves but you know, it isn’t as convenient as handling them with my bare hands