Science of Weather: Sea Life Michigan Turtles
At Sea Life Michigan located at the Great Crossing Outlets, there are plenty of sea animals. The tank you see right here is the ocean tank. The temperature of the water is set to about 76 degrees year-round. The lights correspond to the seasons and there's specific lightning for the Sea Turtles.
Lauren Grauer, Lead Aquarist at Sea Life Michigan, "Sea turtles have specialized lighting. It's a little more expensive than the other lighting we have on here."
Now, those lights are needed to help the turtles thrive in their habitat.
"They use the UV from that light as a source of D3, which helps them metabolize calcium and then it helps them build strong shells and bones." Adds Lauren.
Lauren explains how the sea turtles receive specialized lighting.
"So they'll get at least 20 to 30 minutes under them a day, and then we'll leave them on sometimes when we're diving, when we're just out and about, we're watching them. They'll come up and kind of sit at the surface. Sea turtles are known to bask like your freshwater turtles do in Michigan. So you might see like wood turtles or blanding turtles basking on logs in the summertime. Sea turtles don't do that. They just come up to the surface to breathe. And that's how they get their sunlight in the wild. So for us, we just make sure that they come up and eat at their lights, and then they're getting the right amount of UV for them for the day." Lauren says.
I had a chance to feed the turtles, where they receive the sunlight from the lamps. And did you know that these turtles also get other snacks?
"We give them turtle toys. So we'll sink ice blocks in that are filled with veggies and green peppers, romaine and dive. And they'll dive down and they'll graze on that. And it kind of brings out natural behaviors from them, which we love to see in our animals because it means that they're kind of thriving rather than just, you know, surviving. So we look for those behaviors and we make sure that they have a lot to work with while they're staying here with us." Lauren explains.
Now that's the Science of Weather, in Auburn Hills, I'm Meteorologist Kylee Miller.
