turtles Archives - On the Go in MCO

SeaWorld Animal Rescue Team from Orlando traveled to the Indian River Lagoon near Sebastian, Fla., to return two sea turtles that the park received earlier this year. Both turtles were rescued from the Indian River Lagoon near Sebastian, Fla. By the Sea Turtle Preservation Society and brought to SeaWorld for rehabilitation and care.

One, a 75-pound loggerhead, came to SeaWorld in May with a large J-hook stuck in its throat. Upon arrival, the turtle received a health assessment, and it was determined that it had been living with the large hook in its throat for 4 years. SeaWorld Orlando’s Aquarium Team administered antibiotics and made sure the underweight turtle was eating normally and gaining weight before being approved for today’s return.

A smaller green sea turtle was also returned today. Extremely emaciated and lethargic upon arrival in September, the six-pound turtle received antibiotics and was monitored to ensure the tiny animal was gaining weight until being cleared for return today.

For more than 45 years, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment has helped animals in need — ill, injured and orphaned. More than 20,000 animals have been rescued by our experts.‪ SeaWorld’s Animal Rescue team is on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. So far in 2012, the SeaWorld Aquarium Team and SeaWorld Animal Rescue Team has rescued 35 turtles and returned 13.

Every once in a while it is nice to sit back and just let the pictures speak for themselves. I can attest there are times when I am a bit longwinded and tend to get distracted (ooh squirrel). I’m going to try to introduce photo tours into my blog posts much like I did for my previous post on Disney’s Pop Century Resort. For those who don’t know, I work in Tampa and live south of there by a good 45 minutes. As often as I can, I try to take the opportunity to visit Busch Gardens since it is less than fifteen minutes from my office. This past weekend was gorgeous, so I decided to head over to the park on Saturday after I got out of work.

Since it was a kind of warm afternoon I noticed quite a few of the animals napping, which was not something I had seen on my previous few visits. I also couldn’t help myself in noticing several of the animals were mooning me while I tried to take their pictures. 😉

On this day I experienced two new attractions: Tut’s Tomb and Iceploration. The former is a recreation of King Tut’s Tomb that was discovered in Egypt in the early 1900s. This was a really neat area to explore that I had never even noticed before. I was very grateful that it wasn’t a very confined space, which I was a little worried about since I am claustrophobic. Iceploration is a relatively new show that takes place in the Moroccan Palace Theatre. The premise is that a young boy who doesn’t like to play outside and is very much into electronics is forced to travel around the globe with his grandfather exploring areas such as an African savanna, the Great Barrier Reef, the Arctic and a Rainforest. It is a unique presentation with performers dressed as different animals ice skating throughout the different scenes. There are also live animals (warning: birds fly into the audience!!!) that come on stage in the different scenes from birds to cats and dogs. You can even meet one of the huskies after the show and have a picture taken with it. It was an enjoyable show with a variety of entertainment styles from dance to ice skating, animal entertainment, all while telling the story of exploration across the globe. For you Disney folks think of it as Festival of the Lion Kings combined with Finding Nemo the Musical and the old Tarzan Rocks show at the Animal Kingdom (minus the recognizable songs and characters). They even have their own version of the tumble monkeys!

So I present to you some pictures I took at Busch Gardens this past weekend and invite you to join along for this photo tour. Enjoy!

This kangaroo is sleeping like my cat Sam sometimes does

I can handle ducklings when they are cute like this before they grow up into evil ducks

Gorilla statues took me 15 minutes of waiting to get a pic without kids climbing on them

All in all I spent a few hours in the park and was able to enjoy a few new things along with some of my favorites. I can always go to the park and just enjoy myself by walking around and watching the animals. It was especially nice to see the baby joeys and to see the cheetahs as close as I did. There seemed to be even more beautiful flowers than on my last few visits. Spring is in bloom. Have you been to Busch Gardens recently? What are some of your favorites? Is there anything you’d like to see on another photo tour? If so, please leave us a note in the comments or feel free to email me at Betsy@onthegoinmco.com.

If you enjoyed these pictures, check out my previous blog post here on the animals of the Kilimanjaro Safaris at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.