World Turtle News, 06/15/2016

Frankenturtles Could Help Save Sea Turtles

Professor David Kaplan is doing the unthinkable. He and his graduate student Bianca Santos came up with an unusual idea to provide insight on the reasons why so many sea turtles perish in the Chesapeake Bay. The plan? To use turtle carcasses to track the effects of various factors which play into turtle mortality. Tragically, the death toll is approximately 200 turtles per year, all of which are discovered washed up on the beaches. Kaplan believes the discovery of these victims only scratches the surface of the real number of turtles killed each year. Two sea turtle carcasses from the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach were used in this study and both of them were victims of a boat strike. The remains were fitted with radio trackers as well as flotation devices and then sent out to sea. They are expected to last about 10 days, and hopefully will provide valuable information on the effects of currents and ideas for preventing accidental catches as well as other valuable data.

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Did You Know…

Hermanns tortoise are tuned to a calorie-deficent diet. Meaning they have to consume large amounts in the wild to obation energy. This instinct persists in captivity also.

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Photo from marinebio.

Author

WTN Editor

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