turtleA turtle with one flipper who appeared doomed to spend more than 100 years paddling round in circles has been fitted with a prosthetic fin enabling her to swim straight.

Turtle doctors at Texas’ Sea Turtle Inc. rescue centre gave Allison, a five-year-old sea turtle, little chance of survival when she was checked in following a shark attack in 2005.

Efforts to fit her with a prosthetic flipper also failed because she lacked even a stump to attach it to. Turtles with one flipper are often put down because they struggle to reach the surface for air.

But intern Tom Wilson came up with the neoprene suit design after studying the physics of canoe paddling.

The black suit, which covers most of Allison’s body acts as a rudder to give her stability. She can also change direction by varying the strokes of her front right flipper.

“The whole reason we’re doing this is to improve her quality of life,” said Wilson.

With turtles often living up to 150 years and growing to 600 pounds, the centre is already planning a series of larger suits for Allison as she grows to full size.

Although she will never be strong enough to return to the wild, a spokesman for Sea Turtle Inc. said she had become an “ambassador” for the endangered species.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 at 9:16 pm and is filed under Ocean, Reptiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.