Leather-back turtles are being tracked across the Pacific on the way back from their yearly nesting in Costa Rica. This happens every year normally, but this year turtle conservationists have decided to get everyone into the action. Many sponsors have had turtles named after them like Purple Lightening for Yahoo!, Stephanie Colbertle for Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central’s Colbert Report (pronounced Colber Repor), Turtleocity for Travelocity and a few others. Hey I think they are onto something. Americans love races. If we make the whole Global Warming and Conservation thing into a contest, I’m sure we’d save the Earth with time to spare!

You can check out Stephanie Colbertle and all of the other turtles at The Great Turtle Race. The site includes bios on the turtles, including data on their nests and race tracking updates as they swim to the Galapagos Islands. Windy for West Marine Boating is currently in first place. It kinda makes you feel like you’re out in the ocean with them. So in the words of some other famous turtles: Cowabunga! Turtle Power!