This morning, SeaWorld Orlando’s Animal Rescue Team traveled to the Indian River Lagoon near Sebastian, Fla., to return two sea turtles that were brought to the park earlier this year.

SeaWorld Orlando’s Animal Rescue Team traveled to Canaveral National Seashore near Titusville, Fla., this morning to return two sea turtles that the park received in February.

SeaWorld was a very popular exhibitor at this year’s San Diego High Tech Fair. The fair is held annually with cooperation from the San Diego Science Alliance, the San Diego County Office of Education and San Diego City Schools.

To kick off 2012 and get you excited for the opening of TurtleTrek at SeaWorld Orlando this spring, we wanted to focus on turtles for this week’s Species Spotlight. A one-of-a-kind 3-D/360-degree movie is only part of TurtleTrek’s allure.

Meet Clyde….not the silly sea lion that you’re all familiar with, but Clyde the Asian water monitor (also known as a Malayan water monitor). You can see him at SeaWorld San Diego’s Animal Connections, where trainers occasionally walk him around for guests to meet up-close.

It was 5:00 a.m. when we left to visit our third school. We drove an hour to the Wildlife Refuge of Chaconcente, and then after breakfast, set off on a three hour horseback ride and walk to the beach. I have never been horseback-riding, much less through a forest, but today I saw and heard creatures that I really did not want to see. There were wild bulls that were ready to attack our horses at any time, spiders, snakes and pretty much anything else you can imagine that would be living in the wild! After about an hour we made it the beach.

Today, we met very early to pack the truck and head out to El Astillero community. It took us almost four hours to get there.

Our first stop was to collaborate with youth volunteers that come from homes in which the parents used to poach sea turtles, and sell and eat their eggs. These teens now come and share their experiences with the children at the schools in order to make a difference in sea turtle conservation. FFI is working with families in these communities by helping them find other alternatives for work.

Since 2003, the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund has helped over 500 projects around the world with Species Research, Habitat Protection, Animal Rescue & Rehabilitation and Conservation Education. My name is Yaritza Aponte and I have been selected as an ambassador for the Fund to travel to Nicaragua and work with Fauna & Flora International (FFI) to help educate locals on the importance of conserving the Sea Turtles.

The pilot whale is a high-flying member of the dolphin family and can be seen making audiences smile during the spectacular “Blue Horizons” show at SeaWorld San Diego, alongside Atlantic bottlenose dolphins.