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An epic journey. The longest-ever recorded of any tracked animal in history!

Yoshi is a South African Loggerhead turtle. She left the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town 26 months ago, released symbolically on December 16th that celebrates South African Human Rights.  

She first headed up the west coast of Africa to Angola, and then turned south towards Australia, heading for Western Australia’s coast – a popular breeding ground for her species, where she landed on 02 March.

She’s swum over 37 000km at an average of about 48km a day on this journey that has outdone the journey of any bird, fish or mammal ever tracked. Apart from record-breaking, isnt this inspiring?  

She’s now located near Point Samson in Western Australia’s Pilbara region – quite popular as a breeding ground for her kind. She could have headed here to lay eggs in her potential land of birth, or just been after the delicious snacks on the reefs of the area.

The battery on her tracker lasted much longer than anticipated and conservation officials in Australia have agreed to meet up with her if she decides to nest to replace her battery so that The Two Oceans Aquarium can continue to track her amazing journey.

The amazing turtle lived at the Two Oceans Aquarium for 20 years after she was brought there in 1997 following an injury to her shell. Yoshi has inspired Two Oceans’ intensive turtle rehabilitation programme where they release hundreds of sea turtles a year.

“Yoshi has always done things her way, and she might just keep us guessing for a while longer,” says Maryke Musson, CEO of Two Oceans Aquarium Education Foundation.
“Perhaps she is just filling up on some tasty morsels, or perhaps this stop will be a more significant spot on her journey …  if she is about to add to the global loggerhead population.  Yoshi has done us all proud and we cannot wait to see what she will get up to next.”

If you want to help other turtles like Yoshi and raise awareness for their plight, share this behind-the-scenes story of a South African Loggerhead turtle Yoshi’s incredible journey from Cape Town to Australia.

Acknowledgement: Traveller 24