Ever wondered what it might be like to take in the ocean from the perspective of a sea turtle? Well now you can thanks to GoPro footage from the World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) of Australia.
As part of a research project looking at how pollution is affecting turtles in the Great Barrier Reef the organisation strapped a camera onto a green sea turtle. The video was taken so that researchers could see how turtles react after they have been tagged and released.
Watch the video below:
The organisation also hopes that the footage will help to raise awareness about the dangers of dumping rubbish in the sea — which is considered to be one of the biggest threats to the world’s oceans. WWF is working with a number of organisations in Australia to try and learn more about how pollution impacts sea turtles.
According to the WWF nearly all sea turtle species are classified as endangered. The decline in numbers is mainly blamed on them being hunted for their eggs, meat and skin and because they get accidentally caught in fishing gear. Climate change is also thought to be impacting their nesting sites.
Unesco recently voted not to put the Great Barrier Reef on world 'danger list'. While this decision was welcomed by the Australian government some charities raised concerns that the seriousness environmental damage in the area was being underrated.