+
upworthy
Most Shared

Surf's up, turtle dudes! The sea turtle population is making a comeback.

One of the most heart-pounding moments of the BBC's Planet Earth series has to be the baby sea turtles.

In the last episode of the show's second series, viewers watched cute baby sea turtles emerge from their nests in the sand. Then, our hearts collectively dropped as Sir David Attenborough's voiceover cut in to inform us that the tiny turtles, confused by nearby city lights, were headed the wrong way — straight into traffic.

[rebelmouse-image 19532092 dam="1" original_size="500x281" caption="Why must you play with our hearts, Mr. Attenborough? GIF from "Planet Earth II"/BBC." expand=1]Why must you play with our hearts, Mr. Attenborough? GIF from "Planet Earth II"/BBC.


It's a harrowing scene. The series didn't show how it ended for the babies, but after viewer outcry, the BBC confirmed via Twitter that — in defiance of normal standards — the filmmakers intervened to help direct the turtles back to the sea.

Unfortunately, not every sea turtle has a film crew watching its back, and many species have found themselves in trouble.

Sea turtles face a lot of threats — from poaching, to fishing gear, to habitat destruction. Climate change affects how they nest and breed. A 2015 report suggested that more than half of all the world's sea turtles have accidentally eaten plastic debris.

The IUCN, a world authority on nature conservation, lists three of the world's seven sea turtle species as "endangered" or "critically endangered" and three more as "vulnerable."

Since the 1950s, conservation efforts have tried to address these threats. But have they worked?

A new study shows that sea turtle protection efforts have indeed paid off.

A team of researchers at Greece's Aristotle University headed by Antonios Mazaris analyzed over 4,400 existing estimates of sea turtle numbers, in a report published Sept. 20 in Science Advances.

Their conclusion? Overall, sea turtle numbers around the world are growing. Of the 17 major regions they examined where sea turtle numbers were changing, 12 had seen growth. Only five had significant decreases.

It's enough that a press release about the study called it a "global conservation success story."

[rebelmouse-image 19532093 dam="1" original_size="750x500" caption="Woo! Photo from kormandallas/Pixabay." expand=1]Woo! Photo from kormandallas/Pixabay.

Changes to fishing regulations, beach protections, and other efforts have helped ensure that more baby sea turtles have a chance to see adulthood and that the ocean will be a safer place for adult sea turtles to live.

There's still a lot of work to do, the researchers were careful to note. Some sea turtle populations are still dwindling, there's still a lot to learn, and we definitely shouldn't slack off if we want to see their numbers keep going up.

This study is a reminder that, while humans might cause problems for animals like sea turtles, we also have the power to help fix them as well.

A pitbull stares at the window, looking for the mailman.


Dogs are naturally driven by a sense of purpose and a need for belonging, which are all part of their instinctual pack behavior. When a dog has a job to do, it taps into its needs for structure, purpose, and the feeling of contributing to its pack, which in a domestic setting translates to its human family.

But let’s be honest: In a traditional domestic setting, dogs have fewer chores they can do as they would on a farm or as part of a rescue unit. A doggy mom in Vancouver Island, Canada had fun with her dog’s purposeful uselessness by sharing the 5 “chores” her pitbull-Lab mix does around the house.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Yale's pep band had to miss the NCAA tournament. University of Idaho said, 'We got you.'

In an act of true sportsmanship, the Vandal band learned Yale's fight song, wore their gear and cheered them on.

Courtesy of University of Idaho

The Idaho Vandals answered the call when Yale needed a pep band.

Yale University and the University of Idaho could not be more different. Ivy League vs. state school. East Coast vs. Pacific Northwest. City vs. farm town. But in the first two rounds of the NCAA basketball tournament, extenuating circumstances brought them together as one, with the Bulldogs and the Vandals becoming the "Vandogs" for a weekend.

When Yale made it to the March Madness tournament, members of the school's pep band had already committed to other travel plans during spring break. They couldn't gather enough members to make the trek across the country to Spokane, Washington, so the Yale Bulldogs were left without their fight song unless other arrangements could be made.

When University of Idaho athletic band director Spencer Martin got wind of the need less than a week before Yale's game against Auburn, he sent out a message to his band members asking if anyone would be interested in stepping in. The response was a wave of immediate yeses, so Martin got to work arranging instruments and the students dedicated themselves to learning Yale's fight song and other traditional Yale pep songs.

Keep ReadingShow less

A woman looking at her phone while sitting on the toilet.


One of the most popular health trends over the last few years has been staying as hydrated as possible, evidenced by the massive popularity of 40-oz Stanely Quencher cups. The theory among those who obsess over hydration is that, when you pee clear, you’ve removed all the waste in your body and are enjoying the incredible benefits of being 100% hydrated. Congratulations.

However, according to Dr. Sermed Mezher, an NHS doctor in the UK, peeing clear isn’t always a sign of being healthy.

Keep ReadingShow less

An English doctor named Edward Jenner took incredible risks to try to rid his world of smallpox. Because of his efforts and the efforts of scientists like him, the only thing between deadly diseases like the ones below and extinction are people who refuse to vaccinate their kids. Don't be that parent.

Unfortunately, because of the misinformation from the anti-vaccination movement, some of these diseases have trended up in a really bad way over the past several years.

Keep ReadingShow less
Innovation

A student accidentally created a rechargeable battery that could last 400 years

"This thing has been cycling 10,000 cycles and it’s still going." ⚡️⚡️

There's an old saying that luck happens when preparation meets opportunity.

There's no better example of that than a 2016 discovery at the University of California, Irvine, by doctoral student Mya Le Thai. After playing around in the lab, she made a discovery that could lead to a rechargeable battery that could last up to 400 years. That means longer-lasting laptops and smartphones and fewer lithium ion batteries piling up in landfills.

Keep ReadingShow less
via PamTina_/Twitter

Pam's little brother is so sweet.

Pam has a little brother, who recently learned that he is actually her half-brother.

Of course, half-siblings are still very much siblings, but Pam's brother doesn't quite grasp the concept yet and seems upset about having to part with 50% of his sister.

Keep ReadingShow less