There has been a ton of excitment on the beach since I have written. Most notably has been the fact that I saw my first leatherback this season (I was begining to wonder if this would ever happen)! Infact, I have now been able to work on three since last I wrote, two of which were with the tourists around, which can be frustrating. Also, on a much sadder note, we had a ridley stranding and there was nothing we could do for her. She finally died after two days of being stranded on the sand.
I know that all of you are curious about the leatherback, so let me try to explain the extreme wonder and excitement, however, I'm pretty sure I can't. I was fortunate enough to get to count the eggs of the second leatherback, since I find this job the most exciting because you get to see all the action, this is what I will talk about. The second we stepped on the beach we received a phone call from the park guard stating that there was a turtle 300m down the beach. Both patrol groups decided to go to the turtle so that the newbies could be trained on proper protocol, especially when dealing with guides and tourists. As the egg counter I was able to lay down right behind the turtle and watch the whole process at eye level. The best I can describe the nest chamber digging is as a meticulous alternation of flippers that strain down 70cm and create a scoop-like bowl to create the upsidedown lightbulb shape of the egg chamber. The flippers themselves kind of remined me of baby elephant ears in color and texture, but are so soft and smooth.These massive flippers move back and forth for 20 minutes digging further down until the chamber is deep enough. At this point she drops one flipper into the nest to hide the dropping eggs. This, of course, is challenging for an egg counter, but fortunately biologists and their volunteers are allowed to touch the turtle. I was permitted to used my hand with the egg counter to pull back her massive flipper which is draped like a curtain hiding the eggs just so I could count them. This isn't always easy though, she is very strong! Often times she knocked my hand out of the way when she was contracting, making it impossible to get an accurate count. I guess I'll have to start lifting weights again to get into turtle working shape...Who knew? Her carapace (top shell) was about a meter and a half long and a meter wide (mom you might have to draw this on your white board so your students can see and add a basketball-sized head and another foot worth of back flippers). I hope this paints an image of how big they are. This turtle wasn't even a large one! Apparently back in the times of poachers and before Las Baulas was a national park, full grown men used to crawl on their backs and ride or surf them down the beach. Now there is practically no poaching on the beach and the tourist must have guides, thus turtle surfing has been eliminated on this beach. Hovered around this turtle was a group of 15-18 tourists at all times, separated into two groups, thus a little over 30 people watching her nest, plus two guides and the 3 biologists. Needless to say, working on a turtle can get hectic.Now on to the poor turtle who was stranded on our beach. She just showed up ne night, we all thought she was dead, but at 3pm the next day some of the other biologists went to take pictures and noticed she was breathing and ocassionally lifting her head. Apparently there is an animal rescue facility a little over 2 hours away, but they are not really a turtle rescue and have limited space. We called the National Park office and they told us there was nothing we could do. That night I patrolled that end of the beach and kept walking by her poor pathetic body that was exhausted and had given up. She finally died about 3am after getting washed out to sea, tossed around by the waves, and spit out back on shore at least three times. They are just now going out to bury her, but it is so sad! Apparently 30 ridleys have also washed up on the Arribada beach to the south, though I do not know if they were alive or dead.Sorry I have no pictures for this post
No comments:
Post a Comment