Squirtle #007

Wartortle #008

Juvenile turtle

Professor Oak has three Pokémon at the start of Red and Blue: Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle. These Pokémon can only be found in Oak’s laboratory, so they are rare. A team of scientists in Professor Oak’s lab research the Pokémon. Squirtle is possibly an endangered species of sea turtle.

Kemp's ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) is the smallest species of sea turtle as well as the rarest (Rhodin et al. 2010). It is listed as critically endangered by the The International Union for Conservation of Nature (Wibbels and Bevan 2019). Kemp's ridley sea turtle migrates from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic. However, these migrations are being impacted by rising sea temperatures (Fritts et al. 1983). Habitat destruction, climate change, and other human activity place the populations at further risk (Griffin et al. 2019).

Hatchling

USEPA Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Hawksbill sea turtle

Thierry Caro (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) is also a critically endangered species of sea turtle (Mortimer and Donnelly 2008). It has an amber shell. The hawksbill sea turtle is found in shallow estuaries near coral reefs.

Green sea turtle grazing seagrass

P.Lindgren (CC BY-SA 3.0)

The green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) is a large species of sea turtle (Swash and Still 2005). Adults can weigh over 400 pounds though they are strictly herbivores, feeding on sea grasses and algae (Howell and Shaver 2021; Sea Turtle Conservancy). There are two genetically distinct populations due to geographic barriers with one residing in the Atlantic Ocean and the other in the Pacific (National Geographic 2005).

Fritts, T. H., W. Hoffman, and M. A. McGehee. 1983. The distribution and abundance of marine turtles in the Gulf of Mexico and nearby Atlantic waters. Journal of Herpetology 17: 327-344.

"Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas)". National Geographic – Animals. National Geographic Society. December 29, 2005.

Griffin LP, Griffin CR, Finn JT, Prescott RL, Faherty M, et al. (2019) Warming seas increase cold-stunning events for Kemp’s ridley sea turtles in the northwest Atlantic. PLOS ONE 14(1): e0211503.

"Information About Sea Turtles: Green Sea Turtle – Sea Turtle Conservancy".

Mortimer, J.A.; Donnelly, M. (IUCN SSC Marine Turtle Specialist Group). (2008). "Eretmochelys imbricata". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008: e.T8005A12881238.

Rhodin AG, van Dijk PP, Iverson JB, Shaffer HB (2010). Rhodin AG, Pritchard PC, van Dijk PP, Saumure AR, Buhlmann KA, Iverson JB, Mittermeier RA (eds.). "Turtles of the World: Annotated Checklist of Taxonomy and Synonymy". Chelonian Research Monographs. Chelonian Research Foundation and the Turtle Taxonomy Working Group of IUCN Species Survival Commission: 85–164.

Swash, A. & Still, R. (2005). Birds, Mammals, and Reptiles of the Galápagos Islands. Second Edition. Hampshire, UK:WildGuides Ltd. p.116.

Wibbels, T.; Bevan, E. (2019). "Lepidochelys kempii". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2019: e.T11533A155057916.