Have you ever seen an adult female leatherback in the daylight? We have!
Meet our "Morning Turtle". On Friday morning, Jan. 25, 2008 we were fortunate enough to see a turtle nest during daylight. She emerged from the sea around 5am and we all rushed from our posts on the beach, and some of us from our beds, to see her. It is very rare that you see a leatherback come ashore to nest in daylight hours, and it's extra special because you can take pictures, something that is forbidden at night.
The first picture is of us in front of her nesting. The last two were taken as she headed back to sea. Notice the tracks, they may look like tractor tracks but they are leatherback tracks!
This was a phenomenal experience, we were only 2 days into the expedition and we got to see a morning turtle-- truly amazing.
Isn't she beautiful!
posted by Fiona O'Doherty & Jennifer Seshadri @ 2:30 AM
16 Comments:
wow that is amazing,im sooo jealous!
is that one of the larger females or is that an average size? how big can they grow to?
Kailen and family xx
Yes she is beautiful. And I can't believe you kept her a secret all week! Travel safely. See you Monday. But I think Jane ate all the chocolates.
Susan J
Hello Ms. O'Doherty,
You mentioned in our video conference that the turtles only come out at night. Why is that? Is there some reason that they are averse to sunlight? If so, why are they averse to sunlight? Is it a biological reason, like due to skin pigmentation or theur eyes, or is it because of predators?
Hope your having a lot of fun,
Christine
Hi Ms. O'D,
What have you learned to be one of the main reasons why the Costa Rican Sea Turtles are endangered? Is their endangerment a result of human activity or a cause of nature? What is the most interesting thing you have observed/learned about the turtles?
Thanks!
-wrong way Cooley
Hi Ms. O'D!
We miss you in calculus. I was wondering if you have noticed anything about how the turtles interact with one another.
Thanks,
Laura
Hey, Ms. O'D,
We have several questions:
1. Why do the leatherback turtles nest during the night? To avoid predators?
2. Has global warming affected the frequency of leatherback nestings lately?
Thanks,
Mary and Maria
P.S. Happy Founder's Day!
HI fiona you are so lucky to be doing that!!!!! I love the pics!!! what time was it when you saw the morning turtle?
from kk
WOW! that turtle is amazing. You are so lucky. You must be having a ge=reat time. Can't wait to hear more about your trip in detail when you come back!
EEP!
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Hi all,
Kailen, this female was about 150cm long which is average, They can grow up to 2m long. We watched her go back to the ocean at about 6:15 am.
Hi Christine, bright lights disorient the turtle. Another big reason for emerging night is that the eggs are safer from predators - the turtle spends quite a bit of time camouflaging her nest after she has laid the eggs. The only thing you see are her tracks when she is done.
Hi Lauren - unfortunately, one of the biggest reasons for their endangerment is humans. For many years, people poached turtle eggs and sold them (they were believed to be an aphrodisiac!), thus breaking the life cycle. No new hatchlings will eventually lead to no new adults. The biggest threat to the adult population is line-fishing. Fishermend use huge fishing lines with 1000's of big hooks and adult turtles get caught on these and are either killed or seriously injured.
Hi Laura, the turtles are very solitary creatures. They come to shore alone, lays their eggs, return to sea and never come back to see the nest.
Mary & Maria, your answer to the nighttime laying is answered above. Global warming is having a big affect on nesting behaviours - it has led to more beach erosion which will be a huge problem, since turtles come back to nest at the beach they were born on. Also, warmer temperatures has resulted in the females coming back to nest on average every 2 - 3 years as opposed to every 2 - 4 years. There are currently a lot of studies being done the influence of global warming on the turtle population.
HI Ms.O'D,
Is it possible for you to distinguish between turtles just by tracking their footprints? Are there certain patterns that are created by the different types of turtles?
Shenai
That is so cool! im so jealous! was it a large female turtle? do you know how many eggs it layed?
ariana
That is really cool. It's absolutely amazing that you got to see her in the morning. Do you know why she came in the morning? Was she a turtle you had already seen this season?
Hi Emily - it was even beyond cool to see her in the daylight. When she emerged from the sea it was still dark - she had emerged earlier in the night but aborted the process because the egg chamber she was digging kept collapsing - by the time she finished laying, the sun had come up, which was why we could take photos. See you tomorrow:)
Shenai, Thanks for the question - yes, it's possible to distinguish among the different types of track, which type of turtle cam to shore. The leatherback has the largest tracks of all. We saw 2 other types of turtle while we were there - a black turtle and an olive ridley - their tracks were much smaller. See you tomorrow:)
I new that she was a big female or a little bit of turtles that is extremely cool!
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