Pip & Scout Make a Splash!

Pip & Scout

Two rescued loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings are the newest conservation ambassadors at the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher.

Two loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings named Pip and Scout are making a splash at North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher (NCAFF). For decades, the aquarium team has cared for hatchlings that did not make the initial trek to the ocean from their beach nests. Pip and Scout are survivors found in nest excavations at Carolina Beach and Fort Fisher. Their names began with ideas from staff, then votes from students throughout North Carolina.

“It is important to the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher to foster connections to aquatic life for students, and engaging them in voting for the turtles’ names is a great way to do that,” says Andy Gould, education curator at NCAFF. “Inspiring the next generation to tell the story of loggerhead sea turtles like Pip and Scout bolsters our work to save this protected species.”

These two-inch hatchlings, weighing less than a half-pound, are ambassadors of the aquarium’s mission to inspire appreciation and conservation of aquatic environments. They can be seen in the loggerhead conservation habitat at the aquarium. Coastal development, beach activities and ocean plastics are among the perils that befall sea turtles.

To learn more about the hatchlings and how you can take individual action to protect sea turtles, visit Meet Pip & Scout.

The Aquarium is grateful for the volunteers and we are committed to caring for sick or injured sea turtles by working with sea turtle stranding networks, nesting beach patrols and other aquariums and sea turtle rehabilitation facilities including the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center and the Sea Turtle Assistance and Rehabilitation (STAR) Center at the NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island. Other organizations that care for sea turtles include Oak Island Sea Turtle Protection Program, N.E.S.T., Pleasure Island Sea Turtle Project, Caswell Beach Turtle Watch, Wrightsville Beach Sea Turtle Project and Bald Head Island Conservancy Sea Turtle Protection Program.

Want to see Pip and Scout?
North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher
Just south of Kure Beach, a short drive from Wilmington, on U.S. 421.
The site is less than a mile from the Fort Fisher ferry terminal.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

Admission: $12.95 for ages 13-61; $10.95
Children ages 3-12; $11.95
Seniors (62 and older) and military with valid identification; EBT card holders: $3.00
Free admission for children 2 and younger and N.C. Aquarium Society members and N.C. Zoo members.
Reserve tickets in advance of your trip by visiting NCAFF Admissions.