Sea Turtles

Sea turtles are another creature that have been used as a material source, not just for their meat and eggs but for other reasons as well. Little did they know back then that these natural polymers had so many uses, or even that they were natural polymers. Fortunately, thanks to the wonderful world of man-made polymers, we don't have to search for polymer material sources from nature.

One of the natural products retrieved from turtles was leather for some of the same reasons as sharks were used. Leather is a very common natural polymer. It is made by taking animal skin and tanning it by a process known as crosslinking. This process makes things very strong and useful for many things.

One of the items leather is used for is the belt that may be keeping your pants from dropping below your knees, or it may hold your money and credit cards in something called a wallet.

Another natural product was oil. Oils, which were also found in whales, were obtained from turtles and used for fragrances that women sprayed upon their bodies to attract men. Oils were also used to create cosmetics, such as lipstick and blush.

These cosmetics are also known as war paint in some parts of the world.

There is an upside and a downside to using natural products. First of all it is, of course, natural.

Who could ask for anything better than that?

Well natural products are good because then we are using the things in the environment around us which also makes them recycleable. For the most part this is good because we can recycle all of the products we use. The bad part is that there is more of a demand than there is a supply, and this will quickly diminish any resource. Now we come to some really good news, and some chemists like to call it polymer science.

What polymer science can provide is something that we have needed for some time, and that is a way to make these products that we like to use without completely destroying other living species and environments, like the coral reefs where many turtles hang out.

PAPER OR PLASTIC??!!

One of the problems that has yet to be corrected is the use of plastic bags. Although it has been very useful in saving some trees is has been troublesome for turtles. Leatherback turtles like the taste of jellyfish. They are pretty easy to spot, just kinda floating around. Well, these plastic bags can end up blowing into the ocean, when not properly disposed of. To a turtle these plastic bags look like jellyfish. Unfortunately, they don't digest like a jellyfish, and has caused some deaths. Perhaps someone out there, like you, who wants to be a scientist can find a way to solve this problem.