|
Track sea turtles with the North Carolina Aquarium
Two young sea turtles the North Carolina Aquarium recently released are keeping in touch as they swim around the Atlantic.
Aquarium staff tagged the loggerheads with transmitters that use satellite technology, similar to the Global Positioning System (GPS).
“It gives us the turtle’s location each time it comes to the surface,” said Pat McNeese, Aquarium Conservation and Research Coordinator.
The public can follow the turtles at www.seaturtle.org by clicking on the tracking link at the top, and then the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores Sea Turtle Awareness Program. |
|
The turtles – a four-year-old and a two-year-old – had been rescued as hatchlings from Bogue Banks. The information gained from use of the transmitters could be useful in the development of conservation approaches. It will increase knowledge about the turtle population that nests on local beaches, and advance research concerning the behavior of young turtles.
“This technology will provide the Aquarium staff and researchers with valuable information about juvenile sea turtles,” McNeese said. “Its accessibility to the public also makes it an extraordinary educational tool.”
Aquarium staff members also hope the transmitters will reveal facts about the behavior of turtles that have been rescued. Tracking the movements of these and other turtles to be released by the Aquarium in the future could show whether the reptiles follow the same patterns as other sea turtles.
The four-year-old turtle released from a Pine Knoll Shores beach on Sept. 15 spent its first days near shore, typical behavior for a turtle in warm water at the end of summer. The smaller two-year-old turtle was taken by boat to the Gulf Stream Sept. 23, where younger turtles find food and shelter among patches of seaweed known as the Sargasso Sea.
The transmitters, about five inches long, were affixed to the shells with epoxy. A saltwater cutoff switch shuts off the devices when the turtles dive, prolonging battery life. The lightweight, streamlined mechanisms have minimal effect on the turtles’ maneuverability, and eventually fall off after transmitting for about a year.
Additionally, larger sea turtles are equipped with metal flipper tags and Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT ) tags, much like identity microchips used for pets, to identify them if they turn up elsewhere.
Each year, the Aquarium collaborates with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) to help save numerous distressed hatchlings that, for various reasons, would not survive without assistance. The NCWRC monitors sea turtle nests and regulates turtle rescues and strandings statewide. Most turtles brought to the Aquarium for care are released as soon as they recover. But some, like these two, are kept longer for exhibits or educational programs. All ultimately are released.
The larger loggerhead most recently had inhabited the Queen Anne’s Revenge exhibit, and thus is identified as the QAR Loggerhead on seaturtle.org. The two-year-old had been part of the Loggerhead Odyssey exhibit. It is identified as PK5-10 on the website. On the Sept. 23 trip, the Aquarium also released 25 hatchlings that had been rescued from predation several weeks before.
| 
