After 20 years in captivity, a loggerhead turtle was released into the sea. She thrived. She swam from Cape Town, South Africa to Australia, her birthplace.
Twenty years ago, “Yoshi arrived at Cape Town’s Two Oceans Aquarium after crew on a Japanese fishing boat found her with a damaged shell.” This was a bigger project for Two Oceans Aquarium. It had only been open for a couple of years. They took on the turtle and kept her. They learned enough that they took on other turtles to rehabilitate.
Well, read the rest here. It’s fascinating.
Unanswered it how the turtle knew where to go. How to communicate with other turtles. They did “train” her to swim longer distances and she ended up spending year or so in the area. But then she took off for Australia.