Thursday, June 17, 2010

Waterproofed Digital Camera is the New Note in a Bottle

A digital camera lost by a sergeant in the Royal Dutch Navy stationed in Aruba made it's way via the ocean to Florida where it was found by an American Coast Guard investigator. See AP for details (Later note: This link is broken- AP no longer shows the original article).

It is absolutely remarkable that the finder was able to track the owner down since none of the video footage or stills on the camera helped identify the owner.

But what is seriously cool is the fact that video footage found on the camera was shot by a sea turtle on accident as the camera traveled. Footage shot by a wild sea turtle!!! What a trip.

What is seriously NOT cool is that the viedo appears to have been created when the sea turtle tried to EAT the camera, accidentally turning it on. This is killing sea turtles- eating floating manmade debris that vaguely resembles a sea turtle snack of jellyfish. And now we have live wild footage of it. The good news is that the camera survived rather than entering the turtle's digestive system, so hopefully, the turtle is alive and well.

Sad environmental stuff aside, it is a pretty cool idea, and a great idea for a story- but it has been done- even before this event happened! Read David Weisner's Caldecott award winner, Flotsam. Or not so much read as get a look at it, since there are no words to read- who needs words when you illustrate like David Weisner?

And for a picture book on sea turtles eating bad stuff, try the QoE's favorite, The Adventures of Gary and Harry: a Tale of Two Turtles by Lisa Matsumoto and Michael Furuya.