Dear
William,
Thank
you for your email and for your very creative work in trying to invent a system
that can help save baby sea turtles. I enjoyed watching your YouTube video and
was very inspired by your enthusiasm for sea turtles. I feel the same way about
these amazing creatures, and they definitely can use all the help they can get.
I
am very familiar with the threat of predation on sea turtle nests by all sorts
of animals – particularly loose dogs, raccoons, coyotes and wild pigs. Hundreds
of sea turtle nests are destroyed each year in Florida alone when animals like
these dig up turtle nests to eat the eggs and hatchlings inside. Unfortunately,
it is part of the role sea turtles play in the coastal ecosystem. Our job in
trying to protect sea turtles is finding a balance to prevent the majority of
nests from beings destroyed by animals before the hatchlings can emerge and
reach the sea.
My
organization, Sea Turtle Conservancy, actually does a lot of work to protect
nests from predation, including educational outreach to get dog owners to
control their animals – and also working with coastal property owners and
businesses to lock up their garbage so it does not attract animals like raccoons
to the beach. In some cases, we also use cages or screens to protect nests –
very similar to the design in your project. We have not used an electrical shock
component, but I understand why you would want to include the strongest
deterrent to animals.
I
find your project design very good and think it could have some real-world
applications. If you would like some constructive feedback, the main drawback to
using a shock component would be the potential to accidentally harm the
hatchlings or even other nesting turtles that bump into the cage when they
emerge to nest. But perhaps you have already thought of that and incorporated a
safety mechanism to prevent shocking the turtles.
Thank
you again for sharing your project with me – everyone here at the Sea Turtle
Conservancy is very impressed with your creativity and your passion for sea
turtles.
If
you would be willing to send me your mailing address, there are a few
turtle-related gifts I would be happy to send you in appreciation for your
work.
Very
best regards,
David
my response:
Mr. Godfrey -
First of all, I want to thank you for taking the time to read my email and
looking at my video! I am honored.
How much space to the hatchlings need to get out? My Dad and I thought that
if we made enough room from the wire to the sand, the hatchlings could get out.
We could make some kind of adjustments to the design so the hatchlings can get
out without getting zapped.
We have to do more research. We’re going to make a full scale model to test
it. We will test it in our backyard on squirrels. We have lots of squirrels and
Mom hates them! (note: we’ll make sure no real damage is done to the
squirrels.)
If you are interested, we can send you our results. Thanks again! I look
forward to hearing from you!
My address is:
William Carl Benz
I felt honored when I got that letter. Now I have to come up with some adjustments. I'm REALLY excited!!! YAY me!!!!!
Experiment #1 - making water marbles. Didn't work out so well. From now on, we'll just buy Orbeez.....First, the experiment was written incorrectly. And some of the ingredients don't really exit. Calcium bicarbonate only exists liquid form and you can't buy it and it's not in your house. And I think they accidentally put "bi" in front of carbonate and meant calcium carbonate which is tums! Oh well. It's definitely on my try again list. Not all experiments can turn out right. You don't learn anything if everything is always right.....
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| careful!!! It's dangerous here! |
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| bbbuuuurrrrr....... |
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| Epic fail....ra, ra, raaaaaaaaaaa..... |
But, experiment #2 worked!!!! We made bouncy silly putty! I think bonds break pretty quickly because you can rip it very easily. That means that the hydrogen bonds are easily broken. But, it's fun anyway....We used borax and multi-purpose glue and water.. Borax is cool but it is poisonous to eat!
We bought strawberries!!! That means DNA experiment tomorrow! We're gonna do that tomorrow. I'll let know how it works out....
I went skating yesterday!!!! I only fell 3 times. I went 6 or 7 times around. And I did it all by myself!!!!!
That's all I have on my mind.
Stay tuned 'til tomorrow!
TO BE CONTINUED...
Very cool William, so glad you heard back especially since you just posted this morning that you are still waiting for a reply. Keep testing and refining your project, it is a great idea ! Uncle Ken
ReplyDeleteExcellent all the way around...great job! love and hugs....Aunt Donna....♥
ReplyDeleteWow! It is great that you received feedback on your Save The Baby Sea Turtles project.
ReplyDeleteAlso good to hear you liked skating. Sometime, Aunt K. will tell you about her skating days. I used to like it, too. I can't do it anymore. Don't bend as well as I used too!
Thank you! Please write your name!!
DeleteWhat a great letter you got! Are you going to give him your address so he can send you some turtle things? Your experiments look like a lot of fun. I wish I could do homeschool at your house! (Even though I already finished school... I would do it all over again because I didn't get to do such interesting things when I was in school!)
ReplyDelete