CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The Shedd Aquarium is celebrating two decades of providing a home for a rescued sea turtle.
Nickel can be seen at the Shedd’s Caribbean Reef exhibit. The green sea turtle has a unique swimming style where her head is considerably lower than her backend. Spokeswoman Kayley Ciocci explained how that happened.
"She has buoyancy issues from a motor boat propeller injury to her shell, so she could not survive out in the wild or she would be susceptible to additional injuries."
After five years of rehab in Florida, she came to the Shedd in 2003 where the medical team found a 1975 nickel embedded in her esophagus. They removed the coin and Nickel continues to be a cooperative resident.
"She really enjoy scrubs on the back of her shell, and some scratches on her like flippers and her chest."
Ciocci estimates Nickel is in her late 20's or early 30's and said members of the species while endangered can live another fifty years.
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