Sierra Blogging Post Archives

What does a sea turtle do if she only has one flipper (besides swim in circles)? She wears a neoprene wetsuit!

A clever intern at a sea turtle rehabilitation facility in South Padre Island, Texas, outfitted Allison the uni-flipper sea turtle with a neoprene flipper wetsuit this week so she could swim like a normal turtle.

Allison lost one of her flippers in a shark attack and hasn't been the same since. She arrived at Sea Turtle Inc. in 2005 and was given only a slim chance of survival. (A sea turtle with one flipper is at a pretty big disadvantage as you can imagine.)


But thanks to her new neoprene flipper, which looks like a turtle wetsuit and acts like a rudder, Allison is more stable in the water, can change direction and dive, things she hasn't been able to do since the attack.

"The whole reason we're doing this is to improve her quality of life," said Tom Wilson, the 21-year-old intern who thought up the wetsuit. Wilson's idea applied the physics of canoe paddling. The scientists have even developed equations that will allow them to tailor new suits and fins because Allison could grow to 600 pounds (272 kilograms).

Allison won't be able to survive in the wild, but instead the 5-year-old green sea turtle will be an "ambassador" for her endangered species. All seven types of sea turtles are listed under the Endangered Species Act. Some types of sea turtle, like the giant leatherback turtle, may face extinction in the next 10 - 20 years. So saving even one sea turtle is a pretty big deal in my book.

p.s. We may not carry sea turtle wetsuits, but we do carry men's and women's wetsuits (at 35 - 70% off)!