The Seville Aquarium Welcomes its Mascot
The Seville Aquarium has welcomed its new mascot to its facilities this morning. Chelo, a turtle of the species Caretta caretta, arrives at the Aquarium to raise human awareness about the conservation status of turtles in the sea.
The mascot, which arrived on a boat via the Guadalquivir River this morning, was accompanied by a large group of children and adults who welcomed it to its new home from kayaks and canoes, thanks to the collaboration of the Seville Nautical Club and the company Kabira, rivers&events.
Chelo is the animated version of one of the two Caretta caretta turtles that we received a few days ago at the Aquarium and that you can find in the last tank of the tour. She is part of a breeding program in a controlled environment carried out between the Ministry of Environment (Junta de Andalucía) and The Doñana Biological Station (CSIC), with the intention of making Cabo de Gata an egg-laying area for this species once again.
Our mascot was born from an egg in Cape Verde and ended up in a recovery center in Algeciras until it decided to come to the Aquarium with a mission: to tell us all about the importance of turtles for the marine environment and how threatened they are. For this reason, Chelo will be present in all actions carried out by the Aquarium that involve the conservation of the sea and all its inhabitants.
She has come to the Aquarium with the intention of being the protagonist of many stories, many workshops, and many more surprises, so that even the youngest can become aware of the importance of participating in the protection of the natural environment. And her work begins this very afternoon at the Aquarium, participating in the storytelling “Chelo’s Great Journey”, an activity that will take place during Christmas at the Aquarium for the little ones.