In the second of July’s Plymouth Prompts, I want to introduce you to one of the characters we met at the National Marine Aquarium, Friday the Green Turtle.
Last week I shared a creative prompt inspired by Drake’s Island, which sits in the Plymouth Sound.
Friday shares the Atlantic Tank with an assortment of sharks, rays and other species and is doing his part to enthral visitors with his cheeky antics, which include stealing food from the immense sting rays and lemon sharks.
His name inevitably makes me think of Robinson Crusoe. In fact, Bournemouth Oceanarium, which Friday is on loan from, also had a female Green Sea Turtle called Crusoe until she died in 2016.
At Bournemouth Oceanarium, Friday made headlines in 2009 after retrieving a toddler’s dummy dropped into his tank – and sucking it just as a baby would. So it seems his cheeky behaviour is nothing new.
Plymouth Marine Aquarium has introduced an enrichment programme for Friday to keep him occupied. It’s like he’s that disruptive child in a classroom who’s just too smart for their own good (or the good of their teachers/marine biologists!).
However, his naughtiness is brilliant for the Aquarium’s PR, helping visitors to see marine animals as personality-rich individuals in need of our respect and care.
Can you turn this into a story about a marine creature’s misadventures, or a climate fiction tale about how we can positively impact our seas?
Write a tale inspired by this marine mischief-maker!
If you write or create something prompted by this idea, please let me know by emailing judydarley (at) iCloud.com. I’d love to know the creative direction you choose.
Look out for next week’s Plymouth Prompt.