GO PAWIKAN GO!!!!!

      Hello again fellow bloggers!! Now we are going to talk about our trip to the Pawikan Conservation Center where we learned all about sea turtles, which is called  PAWIKANS here in the Philippines :) We had this field trip to know more about Pawikans and how to save them. We joined this field trip just for that. We expected to have lots of fun in an educational way. Before the field trip, Stroga Nona, FreeSpirit, CrazyLoop, Hafaw and Bob were both excited and nervous. Excited because this is going to be new and nervous because you don't know what you might incounter on the road.
 
     Do you know how many people in the Philippines catch them for their eggs and shells? Lots and lots and LOTS!!!!! That's the reason why we went there. Stroga Nona expected to learn the importance of these pawikans. Hafaw thought to himself how such small thing can be so important to Mother Nature. CrazyLoop expected to know more about the pawikan. PCC is an interesting place to be.

  When you see the entrance, you feel like your entering some kind of beach resort or something of the sort. But, you'll be surprised to see that it's so simple, no fancy things, just what they need for the job. Speaking of that, the workers their are not volunteers but people that were caught catching pawikans and their eggs. We learned about the different species found in the Philippines , like the Loggerhead turtle, Olive Ridley Turtle,  Leatherback turtle and the Hawksbill turtle.

Olive Ridley Turtle

   We saw an Olive Ridley turtle in the concervation. Its scientific name is Lepidochelys olivacea. 
This is its taxonomic classification:

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Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Testudines
Family:	Cheloniidae
Genus:	Lepidochelys
Species:	L. olivacea

   

     Why is this interesting? Olive Ridley turtles are interesting because they can have a variable and symmetrical lateral scute count ranging from five to nine plates on each side, with six to eight being most commonly observed. Why did we choose this?  Well, simply because it is very abundant here in the Philippines and it's adorable. Look at it....SO CUTE! They have an ecological role also. They are omnivores, which means they eat plants and animals.  The five of us were able to release these adorable creatures. That was one of the best moments of our lives!!! 

Not our photo. It's someone else's

   Thank you for reading!!! Comment all you want :D

-Keggle