Baby turtle practices “release wave”

by Meg on December 20, 2008

Before his release into the wild, this behbeh tur-tur shows us his "later beeyatches!" flipper wave.

Nicely done, Mr. Tur-Tur. See you back on the beach when you weigh 800 pounds.

Late! [Followed by 45 minutes of 'ehn' sounds crawling towards water]


turtletrip-6
and turtletrip-2 by smallflightlessbird sent in by Bobbular A.

{ 65 comments }

1 BBM 12.21.08 at 12:03 am

I believe I can fly,
I believe I can touch the sky,
I think about it every night and day,
Spread my wings and fly away,
I believe I can soar…

2 foxy 12.21.08 at 12:04 am

As cute as that little dude is, I feel like he might be better off on the ground.

OMG! That’s my first nuff. Sorta.

3 Boomer's Babysitter 12.21.08 at 12:10 am

Sweet! Reminds me of a wind-up tub toy. Get those flippers going, drop in water, and watch him go!

4 Mia 12.21.08 at 12:13 am

aww. maybe he’s not used to the air and thinks he’s in water. he’s adorable! i’m glad he got an escort into the water.

5 Redbone 12.21.08 at 12:14 am

Flippity flippity flippity flippity *bloop* Lookitimgo!

6 Theresa 12.21.08 at 12:45 am

Och! Won’t someone save me from the wee turtle!

7 Sara 12.21.08 at 1:08 am

Awwww, I love him, flip more

8 Tori 12.21.08 at 1:16 am

baby sea turtles are so cute, but also kinda sad… if you ever get to watch them enter the ocean, they just seem so tiny and overmatched :X

hope you’re swimming happily somewhere little dude!

9 Lunch Lady 12.21.08 at 1:23 am

So sweet bebe !!!
ehn! ehn! must.. reach… water!… ehn!
brothers!… ehn! wait… for… me! EHN!!!

10 Trisha 12.21.08 at 2:07 am

From one who just helped to a health evaluation on a Green Sea Turtle the other day… lemme tell ya… they are STRONG! Put my back out!

11 lisa 12.21.08 at 2:10 am

“Good afternoon. We’re gonna have a great jump today. Okay, first crank a hard cutback as you hit the wall. There’s a screaming bottom curve, so watch out. Remember: rip it, roll it, and punch it”

12 Josh N 12.21.08 at 2:10 am

Ride the wave little Turtle! Hope you’re swimming around somewhere happily

13 Annie J. 12.21.08 at 2:11 am

So leetle! Awww :)

14 Trisha 12.21.08 at 2:11 am
15 foxy 12.21.08 at 2:23 am

I would like to point out that the second pic wasn’t there when I posted my other post.

And also the animators from ‘Finding Nemo’ obvy took a long time studying these guys from up close. This lil dude could have been one of those babies in the movie.

16 Laura 12.21.08 at 2:26 am

OH YOU ARE SOOO CUTE!!!!

17 platedlizard 12.21.08 at 2:27 am

EEEEE! *sound of brain frying* Soooo qte.

18 Decca 12.21.08 at 2:46 am

Horray for the turtles! The cutest thing since….the last really cute thing you posted.

19 chanpon 12.21.08 at 3:02 am

Fly, fly, fly…little turtle (in a non-creepy, non-Hannibal Lecter kind of way).

20 Julie Kang 12.21.08 at 3:07 am

Oh man, I didn’t know they were _that_ tiny!!!! He is truffle-sized. Wrap me up a dozen in a heart-shaped box, s’il vous plait!

That said, anyone else out there see “The Blue Planet,” namely the scene with all the um, spectators, waiting for the baby turtles to hatch? Traumatizing!

21 Brandi7920 12.21.08 at 3:22 am

Auwww I LOFS leetle tur-tur! Those were the keyootest jumping jacks evar!

22 AuntieMame 12.21.08 at 3:35 am

EEEEEEHHHHHNNNNNN!

23 totalee puppy 12.21.08 at 3:56 am

I especially liked the flipper wave.

24 Brittany Anderson 12.21.08 at 4:04 am

I released these when I was in Mexico, specifically in the city of Tecolutla in the state of Veracruz… it was amazing!

25 Mel2 12.21.08 at 4:53 am

I looove baby sea turtles! Having previously seen footage of little turtles doing this move, I’ve dubbed it the “Baby Turtle Dance,” so when I saw this I was overjoyed. Dance, baby turtle!

26 ashley 12.21.08 at 4:56 am

Y M C A!

27 Theo 12.21.08 at 4:58 am

Love the little leatherback, and, internets nerd that I am, I also love the incredibly crisp & smooth video quality of that clip. YouTube is crying in its beer.

28 jill-e-b 12.21.08 at 5:36 am

Squeeee!!!! Baby turtlage! I think I just died of cute.

29 Shellie 12.21.08 at 6:11 am

OH-EM-GEEEE. Want! Want!!! SO CUTE!

30 berthaservant 12.21.08 at 6:45 am

We musical theatre people refer to this move as “jazz hands.” (I still miss you, Bob Fosse).

31 nakey 12.21.08 at 6:55 am

Swim well, little turtlekins. May the warm currents be with you!
Beautiful pics.

32 Kat 12.21.08 at 7:55 am

I feel like we should have an “ehn!” category. Who’s with me?

33 mags 12.21.08 at 8:48 am

I feel like if Mr. TurTur’s name was Rudolph, the video soundtrack would be this:

http://www.entertonement.com/clips/48180/I%27m-cute

34 jill-e-b 12.21.08 at 8:51 am

@Kat
I’m with you! “Ehn!” deserves its own category.

35 Charlie 12.21.08 at 9:21 am

Turtalur wigglage always the best way to start the day o.o

36 Edward 12.21.08 at 9:57 am

He can come live in our tub, and I’ll feed him treats…I do love turtles.

37 coolmtnman 12.21.08 at 2:13 pm

All six of the Atlantic sea turtles are endangered or threatened

38 michellemybelle 12.21.08 at 3:41 pm

I LOVE sea turtles! I want to pick up each little baby and give it a smooch and help it to the water. Good luck little guys!

39 Samantha 12.21.08 at 4:57 pm

Flap flap flap!

40 claudia 12.21.08 at 5:05 pm

That’s right Lisa…

“It’s like he’s trying to speak to me! I know it! Look, you’re really cute, but I can’t understand what you’re saying!”

lol

41 claudia 12.21.08 at 5:15 pm

Oh yes, the flipper flappage is just like the lil dude up top in the movie, yes they did their studying when making it, for sure!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6hu9imt3CU

That’s my fave part of the whole movie, lol. And I am 33 years old :P

42 andrew 12.21.08 at 5:22 pm

Who knew being ‘flipped’ off could be so cute. Bon voyage little turtle.

43 Annie 12.21.08 at 5:54 pm

Release the Turtle: : criminal Scrambles through the swamp to hide but the turtle like an unerring person seeking missile found him. Back to the slammer.

44 Annie 12.21.08 at 5:56 pm

Who let the turtles out
Who who who who
Who let the turtle out who who who

45 Paunchie 12.21.08 at 6:42 pm

truffles for sea birds!

awww, sorry.

46 bookmonstercats 12.21.08 at 6:45 pm

I lof his grey scalitude. So perfectly marked. Go little dude.

47 DM 12.21.08 at 7:58 pm

Good by widdle baby turtle!

48 Cecona 12.21.08 at 8:08 pm

my sister was recently (last summer) in Puerto Rico, doing some special work with the monkeys and sea turtles. She got to see a mama turtle burrying her eggs up close, the pictures she took were so cool! This guy is sooo tiny and adorable, I love him!!!

49 Save the Atlanta Zoo Panda Cam 12.21.08 at 9:49 pm

Zoo Atlanta has announced plans to kill the ever-popular Panda Cam after the first of the year. The Panda Cam is a valuable feature and something that many people like to use as a stress reliever during the day. We are asking Zoo Atlanta to find some other place to find the money they need to cut from their budget in order to keep the Panda Cam.

50 Save the Atlanta Zoo Panda Cam 12.21.08 at 9:50 pm
51 MiaMiaPantsonFia 12.21.08 at 11:27 pm

Baby sea turtles have a reflex after they are hatched and moving toward the ocean to immediately start flipping their flippers to swim as soon as they don’t feel the sand beneath them. It’s so they can swim out to the North American gyrus to eat and grow. They also instinctually know that they must feel themselves go up, back, down, and then forward with the waves when they are close to shore, so they can get out far. They are pretty awesome.

52 Audrey Leigh 12.22.08 at 2:58 am

I wants a sea turtle!

On an irrelevant note, I found this awesome video online…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUqj_dn1UDQ

53 totalee puppy 12.22.08 at 3:27 am

nice one, lisa.

54 Theo 12.22.08 at 4:43 am

Let’s try & stay on-topic with the external URLs, peeps.

55 Marie 12.22.08 at 7:19 am

Wow! The quality on that clip is outstanding. Just gotta say.

I can’t even find the proper words to express my glee over this little most prosh turtle. How do you put such a cutie down and send him off? These people are a lot more professional than I could ever be.

56 libbyxsaurus 12.22.08 at 7:32 am

i LOVEEEE turtles :D DD

he actually looks like he would fly away if those fingers weren’t holding him. :D

57 DKN 12.22.08 at 1:58 pm

Oh fer poseidon’s sake…Adorable, yes, but…Don’t pick up sea turtles in the wild!!! You lessen their already extremely slim chance of survival. OK, I nuffed. Sue me.

58 Linda H. 12.22.08 at 2:00 pm

. . . back atcha, little one.

59 puttheturtledown!!!! 12.22.08 at 2:21 pm

Ok. i love this site. i can even deal with dogs dressed as frogs and such, even though that is cruel (its more of a psychological cruelty, and no worse than what our parents did to us and we turned out ok). but people, pulease. do not endanger the lives of animals so that we can go oooooh i love turtles… sew cuuuute! what’s next, is someone going to post a video of a squirming premie plucked out of an incubator and dangled as it mewls pathetically to make us go awwwwww… thinking caps on cutesters. please.

60 January 12.22.08 at 3:14 pm

Cute maybe…astoundingly beautiful, yes. Thanks for the symbol of hope.

61 Jess 12.22.08 at 5:05 pm

I am so glad that turtles are getting the recognition they deserve. They really give bunnehs a run for their disapproving money. They have a constant scowl on their tiny faces. But it’s a totally cute scowl! =D

and puttheturtledown…yes, I do believe some people would awww at a dangling premie. Then they’d put it back in the incubator and it would live happily ever after, just like this turtle. So calm down. ;-)

62 ss 12.22.08 at 5:48 pm

wow, i get to promote my favorite youtube musician again! that’s twice in the past few days and it’s totally valid too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-mFXrvTkLk&feature=channel_page

i mean seriously this song fits pretty darn well with this post. :)

63 whoaYOUMUSTCHILL 12.23.08 at 3:05 am

dear “puttheturtledown!!!!” -
that response was SO inappropriate/ridiculous/demented. you really need to relax. that turtle was being held for a very short time, not jarred or jostled around, just gently held. CHILL.

64 Mike 12.23.08 at 4:52 am

What kind of camera did you use? It has such great picture.

65 Persephone 12.23.08 at 1:35 pm

For those concerned about the turtle’s safety:

The person holding the turtle is working for a turtle conservation group that actually does keep the eggs in incubators and release them into the wild when it’s time. I’m sure they know what they’re doing.

My grandfather worked for one of these organizations in FL when he was retired, before he passed away. I sent this video to my grandmother to share my happy memories of him. Thank you, cuteoverload. :)

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