Turtle fit with tracker travelled 300km since December
The turtle was released and fitted with a satellite transmitter to monitor post-rehabilitation movements.
A TURTLE, recently released from uShaka Sea World has travelled a distance of 300km, racking up a whopping 1,900km in ‘mileage’ along the way. This is after intensive rehabilitation to rid the turtle of ‘baggage’ in the form of a leech infestation.
“[The turtle’s] unfiltered transmission points add up to almost 1 900km of coastal summer adventure, thankfully without all the baggage she arrived with, but the straight-line distance between the turnaround points is just short of 300km,” said Ann Kunz, spokesperson for South African Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR).
Kunz explained that the turtle, affectionately named Aurora, was rescued by members of the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife team and the KZN Marine Stranding Network before being treated by the turtle rehabilitation team at SAAMBR’s Sea Turtle Hospital at uShaka Sea World.
“Aurora was found rolling around the surf at Scottburgh Point in August last year and brought to the Sea Turtle Hospital. She was very buoyant, meaning the air in her lung cavity was keeping her afloat. This is quite a common issue in stranded sea turtles. However, Aurora was also hosting a multitude of parasites,” explained Kunz.
All rescued turtles brought to SAAMBR’s hospital are given a freshwater bath to rid them of marine-specific parasites.
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“Aurora not only had a terrible infestation of leeches, but she also carried many egg cases, and it took weeks to completely get rid of all her ‘baggage’,” explained Kunz.
This image shows the turtles route- covering 300km of coastline and racking up almost 1 900km along the way. Photo: Saambr Facebook.
Turtle travels
By November, the turtle was ready to be released and was fitted with a satellite transmitter. This formed part of a project to compare her post-rehabilitation movements and spatial ecology use with that of another green turtle named Maia.
“Aurora has all four of her flippers compared to Maia’s three flippers. Maia had a front flipper amputation due to plastic entanglement,” said Kunz.
Both turtles were released on December 8 in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park.
“Aurora moved south, exploring the areas past Mission Rocks and St Lucia before deciding to make a U-turn just south of the Cape St Lucia lighthouse on Christmas day,” said Kunz.
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“It seems as if Aurora had a New Year’s Eve date and moved up the coast to Sodwana to see in the new year. She spent the first week of 2023 travelling between two of our favourite spots, Sodwana Bay and Mabibi, before settling on exploring the Sodwana reefs,” she added.
Interestingly, both turtles covered a large distance, despite the one turtle’s amputation.
“Maia and Aurora are both green turtles of similar size, and it is so interesting to compare their movements back in the ocean. Maia decided to travel to Maputo Bay, three flippers and all, and covered a comparable distance to Aurora. Both these turtles have already shown us in just one month, post-release, that sea turtle rescue and rehabilitation really make a difference, and that a flipper amputation does not hold a turtle back from thriving back in the wild,” concluded Kunz.
