Chelo is the star of the aquarium

Chelo tells us her story

Meet Chelo, a sea turtle of the species Caretta caretta. She has become the protagonist of the aquarium due to the importance of her example for the protection of her endangered species.

Chelo is part of a conservation project that aims to gradually ensure the survival of this species in the oceanic environment, where unfortunately many dangers lurk.

Discover their threats here

HOW I ARRIVED AT THE SEVILLE AQUARIUM

I was born far from here, in an area of Africa where turtles still often lay eggs. I specifically come from an egg on the island of Boa Vista in Cape Verde. With the aim of conserving my species, scientists from CSIC guarded the nest and moved it to Spain.

After the eggs hatched, they fed and cared for us in a recovery center. After a year, a large portion of the baby turtles were released into the marine environment, on a beach in Cabo de Gata. When they become adults, they will return to that same area to lay their eggs. We call this natural tendency to return to the place where we take our first steps philopatry.

The other part of the baby turtles, we are part of a conservation project for our species. In this project, several pairs of turtles (male and female) were transferred to different specialized centers, where they hope we will reach the reproductive phase. And succeed in reproducing.
I was assigned to the Seville Aquarium along with Nando, my companion. At the aquarium, they take care of us daily so that we can soon reproduce here, and thus the turtles born from our eggs can be transferred to the sea.

At the aquarium, they say I'm the protagonist of their story and that's why I'm present in many of their educational activities. If you want to meet me, you can find me along with Nando in the Oceanarium, the main tank of the aquarium, where we live with other animals such as sharks, guitar fish, groupers, etc.