World Turtle Day 2020: World Turtle Day is an international event which is observed by activists and animal lovers around the world. Like every year, World Turtle Day 2020 will also be observed on May 23, which will fall on Saturday, this time around. But why is this day celebrated? What is its motive? There’s a lot to find out when it comes to World Turtle Day. We would come to that part too, but do you remember watching different characters of turtles and tortoises in films, cartoons, TV shows, stories, etc. while growing up? We all had one turtle character that we loved in our childhood. Some even love them now. World Turtle Day 2020 Date And Significance: History & Celebrations of the Observance That Promotes Survival of Turtles And Tortoises. 

Remember the famous ‘The Hare and the Tortoise’ story? Remember Ninja Turtles? With World Turtle Day 2020 around the corner, we at LatestLY, take a walk down the memory lane and bring you a list of popular turtles/tortoise characters of yesteryears, which we have loved over a long time.

Baby Shelby

Popularly called as Shelby the Turtle, this character made his debut in the cartoon “Donald’s Shell Shots”. Known to create for trouble for Donald Duck, Shelby the Turtle has been one of the cutest characters from the house of Mickey Mouse.

Cecil Turtle

We all have loved the antics of ‘overly-smart’ Bugs Bunny. But do you remember the character of Cecil Turtle? One of the rare characters on the show, who outwitted Bugs Bunny, the Cecil Turtle happened to be one of the loved characters of The Looney Toons Show.

Bowser

Now, this might take you completely by surprise! Can you guess who Bowser is? We have all come across this dangerous ‘dragon’ in our lives. Unable to recall yet? Well, do you remember the main villain of Super Mario video-game? Turns out, he was a villainous ‘turtle’ after all.

Terraspin

A lot of millennials could connect with this character. Terraspin happens to be the Omnitrix’s DNA sample of Geochelone Aerio from the Aldabra planet of the Andromeda Galaxy. Remember the Ben10 cartoon show? Terraspin was one of the many alien characters on the show.

Master Oogway

Remember Master Oogway? Let’s take you back to the TV show ‘Kung Fu Panda’. Oogway is portrayed as an old tortoise, who was the previous master of the Jade Palace. He is wise, experienced, and is considered to be the greatest kung fu masters of all time, on the popular toon show.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

We have all loved this show at some point in our childhood. The very thought of tortoises being the saviours of the New York City excited us a lot. A lot of us have associated ourselves with the lead characters of the show – Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, etc. Wasn’t our childhood awesome?

Super Turtle

If Superman was a tortoise, he would surely have been Super-Turtle. The popular character from DC Comics is depicted on similar lines as that of Superman. Super-Turtle appeared quite sporadically on shows, but whenever he appeared, it was quite a spectacle.

Squirtle

One of the most beloved characters on the popular show – Pokemon, Squirtle’s portrayal was loved by a lot of people back in the days. Known to be a water-type Pokemon, Squirtle’s character with Pikachu, Bulbasaur, and Charmander was one of the most loved ones on the cartoon show.

Crush Turtle

Speaking about tortoises’ characters, how can we forget the character of Crush from the list? Crush character appeared to be of a cool surfer dude who helped Marlin and Dory to rescue Nemo. Crush played a very important part in the Finding Nemo franchise.

We have all loved some of the other ‘turtle/tortoise’ characters since our childhood, be it from a video game, a TV show, or even cartoon characters. However, we seem to have lost track of saving and conserving them in real life.

World Turtle Day is a global event which is sponsored by American Tortoise Rescue, every year since 2000. The international group has rescued more than 4,000 turtles around the world. With May 23 nearing, let us pledge to do our bit in saving the dwindling numbers of the tortoise species on our planet.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 23, 2020 12:56 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).