If you're into mythology you may suspect that "World Turtle Day" is a holiday commemorating the fabled World Turtle, a cosmic deity that carries Earth on its shell. In this case, however, World Turtle Day is a May 23rd event created by American Tortoise Rescue in 2000 to "help people celebrate and protect turtles and tortoises and their disappearing habitats around the world." It's just slightly more down-to-earth, you see.

The official WTD website offers a number of tips on how you can help our shelled friends out, along with other resources. Turtles are an important part of all of their respective ecosystems, so it's a good refresher in case you've come to think of the reptiles as sewer-dwelling pizza eaters.

You can get started participating in World Turtle Day by raising your turtle-wareness below:

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