FOLLOW THE VOYAGE - TS KENNEDY

Monday, February 17, 2014

FTV February 17


Today many Cadets are getting ready for the ride of their life. Their Gator Park Airboat Tour begins by winding down the canal, providing plenty of photo ops to catch wildlife in their natural habitat. Their Experienced guides will make sure they will spot alligators large and small, as well as soft-shelled turtles and birds you won’t find anywhere else. They might see Jumbo: a favorite in these parts and an impressive 9 feet long, Jumbo likes to play host and greet Gator Park's guests. Here the Airboat picks up speed and heads for the river of grass. What look like miles of flat land is in fact expansive wetlands, perfect for aquatic creatures.

For a virtual tour of this amazing ride click here.

Their Airboat is the only link to dry land out there, except the few tree covered islands, or hammocks, where raccoons, whitetail deer and wild boar run wild. The water may be shallow, but this is no place for swimming. Gator Park's airboats all sport Cadillac engines and high performance airplane propellers for an Everglades experience like no other. These airboats get close enough to touch the tall grass…or even make a new friend.
Learn more about airboat science and engineering, then try to construct your own airboat.

Did you know that the Everglades National Park is the only ecosystem in the world where alligators and crocodiles co-exist side by side? Although alligators only thrive in fresh water because they can't digest salt, crocodiles can live in both fresh and salt water. The Everglades is unique because fresh water in the Florida Bay meets the salt water of the Gulf of Mexico, creating a perfect ecosystem for both animals to live together.

Here are some fun facts about Gators.

Florida is a very unique state. The coastal communities are home to a wide variety of plant and animal species, including many endangered and threatened species. Sea turtles are one of the endangered species that are currently under protection by the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission.

   Millions of sea turtles once roamed the earth's oceans, but now only a fraction remain. Much can be learned about the condition of the planet's environment by looking at sea turtles. They have existed for over 100 million years, and they travel throughout the world's oceans. Suddenly, however, they are struggling to survive -- largely because of things people are doing to the planet's oceans and beaches.

Thousands of sea turtles around the world have been tagged to help collect information about their growth rates, reproductive cycles and migration routes.

Math Monday:
Plot the Migration of a Sea Turtle Activity

Use this data set of position points, provided by researchers, to create your own map of a turtle's movements.

Here is a blank map with grid lines to plot your data.

In this activity you will find the distance from various cities within the state of Florida.

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