World Turtle Day is an annual holiday celebrated on May 23. The holiday was initiated by the American Tortoise Rescue in 2000 to draw attention to "the problems of the death of a large number of tortoises due to proximity to humans". The purpose of World Turtle Day is to draw attention to the acute problem of the mass death of these animals due to human interference in their lives, namely: pollution of the habitat, climate change, killings by poachers, poor care for animals in captivity, etc.
On this day, actions are held in all turtle habitats, during which volunteers save animals by making ways for them under busy highways in places of migration or in other dangerous places. Participants in the actions also seek the status of legally protected areas for the seashores where turtles lay their eggs.
Mykolaiv Zoo joins the celebration of World Turtle Day. We invite everyone to visit the zoo and get acquainted with our collection, which includes such interesting species as the African spurred tortoise (our giant – the spurred tortoise Marcus already weighs as much as 37 kg), the common snapping turtle, the Chinese softshell turtle, the red-footed tortoise, the snake-necked turtles and many others. You can see portraits of some of our turtles in the photos taken by the zoo's young biologists. And everyone who wants to learn more about these incredible creatures is invited to the lecture dedicated to turtles on Sunday, May 25, at 2:30 p.m.!
