Every year as a part of what’s called a “Head Start Program,” a team of researchers from Sonoma State collect turtle eggs from a pond, hatch the babies and send them to Turtle Bay, the San Francisco Zoo and the Oakland Zoo. Crews care for the babies until they’re big enough to avoid becoming another animal’s lunch.

“It gives them a bit of a push out there, a little more of an advantage because there’s so many invasive species of turtles that are pushing them out because they’re so much bigger than them,” Turtle Bay animal trainer Adrienne John said.