Harnessing new technology to unlock the secrets of Natator depressus
A new tracking harness for flatback sea turtles has found some are travelling hundreds of kilometres out to sea, helping to unlock the secrets of these mysterious creatures.
Quotes: “Flatbacks have always been difficult because we just couldn’t get a good harness attachment as their skin is rather oily,” he said. “The epoxy resin we use on other species doesn’t adhere to them so they basically crack and you have a $3000 transmitter falling off relatively quickly.” “So this [harness] is designed for long term satellite tracking and is able to track the flatback for as long as the satellite transmitters keep transmitting.”
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Who’s Who…
Blasius Merrem (1761 – 1824) was a German naturalist, zoologist, ornithologist, mathematician, and herpetologist. In 1804, he became the professor of political economy and botany at the University of Marburg. In 1820 opus, Versuch eines Systems der Amphibien, he was the first scientist to accurately separate amphibians from reptiles, to separate crocodilians from lizards, and to combine lizards and snakes in a single order. Merrem is honored in the scientific names of two South American snakes: the species Xenodon merremi, and the subspecies Erythrolamprus miliaris merremi.
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Photo from AusTurtle.
