A volunteer's Diary, 2008 (5)
Young Turtle Saved From A Watery Trap
Volunteers to the rescue at Alagadi as nesting draws to a close
MERHABA! Well,
fortunately after last
week’s car troubles
we soon had the Rav
sorted and back on
the road again. The nesting on the
beaches out west has begun to
drop off noticeably now, with far
fewer every day and occasional
days with no new nests at all.
This is a certain sign that the
nesting season is beginning to
come to an end.
This is good news for one
beach in particular on the west
coast, known amongst ourselves
as “Lost’ - if you were trying to
find it you would see why! Lost is
only a small beach and is
partially rocky. This means that
the turtles only come up on a
small part of it. This season the
beach has been very popular with
green sea turtles, notorious for
traversing the beach for what
seems to be miles and digging
numerous body pits before
actually laying. Even at the
beginning of the season we had
problems untangling tracks and
working out which body pits went
with which tracks, but now we are
having far worse problems. With
so many nests in such a small
area, the greens still coming
ashore are beginning to dig up
older nests when digging their
own body pits. This can clearly
have a detrimental effect on the
older nests, as the eggs should not
be moved or touched after the
first 48 hours after laying. It
seems that on this beach at least,
the green sea turtles are their
own worst enemy.
This week at Alagadi the team
were sent out for an unusual
turtle rescue! A juvenile green
turtle was found trapped in a rock
pool. It was quite a young turtle
with a carapace measuring only
33cm in length. Once rescued by
some of the volunteers it was
brought back to the project’s
"Goatshed" headquarters where it
was measured and PIT tagged.
PIT tags are microchips, the same
as you those would use with any
dog or cat or other animal to
enable you to distinguish them
from others. We insert the PIT
tags into the turtles’ shoulder
muscle, and they are always
inserted in the same place so we
know where to look for them.
They are then found with a PIT
tag scanner, which you run over
the area, and if it finds a
microchip it relays a number. It’s
the most reliable way of
identifying a turtle. In mature
turtles we also put flipper tags
into the flippers, a bit like
earrings or the agricultural tags
used in the ears of farm animals.
However these can get pulled out
or migrate out of the skin.
Although PIT tags can migrate
out of the muscle they are placed
into this can take years and as we
place one on each side of the
shoulder, they usually migrate at
different rates so one at least
should always stay in.
By PIT tagging the juvenile
we will be able to see whether it
returns to Alagadi to lay, as the
number is now in our database. If
it is a female it isn’t certain that
she will lay here at Alagadi, as
she could have hatched from any
of the beaches on Cyprus or even
in the Mediterranean. But if she
lays on any of the beaches
throughout the Mediterranean
that are patrolled at night
someone will find the PIT tag and
be able to trace it back to us.
Then again, if it is a male, the
likelihood is that the tag will
never be seen again as he will
never come ashore for the
duration of his life.
it is very hard to track and
study juveniles and in the
Mediterranean it is mostly
unknown where they spend the
time between when they leave
their nests and when, if they
survive, they reappear on the
shore to lay eggs themselves. It is
believed that they spend most of
their years travelling between
feeding grounds, but that
Mediterranean sea turtles remain
in the Mediterranean throughout
their lives.
We were unable to determine
the sex of the juvenile that was
rescued. As adults, males are
distinguishable by their tails,
which are much longer than those
of the female; they also have
claws on their front flippers,
which are used to hold on to the
females during mating. But this
juvenile was not old enough to
have developed either of these
characteristics. The only way to
establish sex at this age is to test
hormone levels. Testing the blood
or genetic samples is not
sufficient, as the sex of a turtle is
not genetically determined, it is
determined by the temperature of
the nest during the development
of the embryo. If the temperature
in the nest ranges between 28°C
and 31°C young turtles of both
sexes will develop. Once the
temperature stays below 28°C
only males will form, and at over
31°C only females will develop.
Northern Cyprus, due to its high
temperatures, is notorious for
producing female hatchlings.
After our young turtle was
rescued, tagged and measured it
was once again released on
Alagadi beach back into the sea in
front of a huge crowd of onlookers.
We hope this time it’ll manage to
stay out of trouble.
Here on Alagadi we have now
had four loggerhead nests hatch
and two greens. It is unusual to
have green hatchlings so early in
the season, as they lay later than
the loggerheads.
With the nesting season
beginning to come to a close and
far fewer turtles coming up to lay
on all of the beaches, we have now
closed night watches to the public
as we cannot be sure that visitors
will see anything at all.
To find out when a nest
excavation is taking place, feel
free to visit us at the Goatshed.
Visitors are always welcome; after
l0am is best, as we don’t finish
work until 5am! We have a short
video you can watch all about the
turtles and you will also have the
opportunity to purchase some
turtle souvenirs, sponsor a turtle
or just have a chat with some of
the volunteers.
To find us, take the road east
from Girne and turn left for
Esentepe. Head into Alagadi
village, go past St Kathleen’s
restaurant and follow the road
around; when you hit the dirt look
to your right for the white house
with the green turtle painted on
the side. If you don’t have a
chance to visit you can always
visit our website
www.seaturtle.org/mtrg where
you will find more information on
the project.
To find the most up-to-date
information regarding
excavations have a look at
www.whatson-northcyprus.com
where all the information is
updated daily.
Hope to see you all soon.
Diary by Emma Dennis
Reprinted from Cyprus Today |