By Chris V. Thangham.
Billie the turtle wins the Great Turtle Race, the race organized to raise awareness about the endangered leather back turtles.
The video shows Stephen Colbert explaining about the Great Turtle Race and one of the Turtles named after him, this was taped before the show, gives some idea about the race.
A leatherback turtle called Billie won the first Great Turtle Race from Costa Rica to the Galapagos Islands, swimming at a leisurely 3 or 4 mph (5-6 kph), organisers said on Friday.
This Great Turtle Race was conducted to raise awareness of this endangered leather back turtles, whose population have reduced considerable because of long line fishing methods and losing habitat because of growing human population. At Playa Grande, a key nesting ground in northern Costa Rica where the race started, only 50 turtles showed up to lay eggs this year, down from 1,500 in 1989. These turtles are believed to have existed same time when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.
The host of this race tracked 11 turtles over a 500 mile distance. Sponsors paid $25,000 dollars to back a turtle; $10,000 was the cost for the satellite tracking tag. A portion of this fund is used to buy nesting land and preserve those lands from housing development.
Billie the turtle sprinted away from the main group to make it first to the finish; nine turtles completed the race, two failed to race and one Purple Lightning, veered off course.
Many watched the race in progress in greatturtlerace.com.
Winner Billie was sponsored by the Offield Centre for Billfish Studies in Oceanside, California. Despite the backing of the famous comedian Stephen Colbert, the turtle Stephanie Colburtle came second.
Lisa Bailey, spokeswoman for the Conservation International, one of the organizers, said this race is no publicity stunt but rather for scientific purposes.
I hope this race helped their cause to protect the leatherback turtles and were able to collect more money for preservation efforts.
