Missing a flipper, not missing a beat: Amber the hawksbill turtle learns to dive again in Cape Town

When Amber was found on a beach in Betty's Bay in September, the young hawksbill turtle was missing her front right flipper, dehydrated and weak. Seven weeks on, at the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation's Turtle Conservation Centre in Cape Town, she is diving and eating with gusto. Her wound turned out to be old and fully healed — she had already survived the hardest part alone. The team, led by aquarist Siyolise Bezu and veterinarian Dr Bernice van Huyssteen, started her in shallow water so she could lift her head to breathe, then watched her graduate to a bigger tank and begin target training, learning to follow a patterned paddle to her food. The Morukuru Goodwill Foundation has now adopted Amber — hawksbills are critically endangered, and every survivor counts. She still has a way to go, but she is swimming like she means it.

SDG 14 · Life below water — Mechanism: institutional program