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The Gulf's Great Turtle Relocation Project
An anonymous reader writes "All along the Gulf Coast's beaches it's turtle-hatching season. Conservationists knew the poor hatchlings wouldn't have a chance if they swam out into the oily waters of the Gulf, so they came up with an incredibly ambitious plan: they would dig up 70,000 turtle eggs, carefully raise them in a climate-controlled hanger at the Kennedy Space Center, and release the hatchlings into the clean Atlantic waters off Florida's east coast. Now that project is well underway, and Discover Magazine has pictures of the first batch of hatchlings crawling toward the welcoming waves. But there's a chance all this do-gooding won't do any good. New Scientist found experts who argue that releasing them into the Atlantic rather than into the Gulf will screw up the turtles' navigation systems, which will prevent them from following their normal migratory routes."
That's hangar, not hanger. Like with separate, it's annoying how few people manage to get it right...
So will the return to the beach they were released from? Or back to the ones in the gulf? I suspect this will make for some very interesting research in the future.
Maybe they'll end up establishing new populations in different locations.
It's certainly better to give them the chance rather than simply let them be exterminated.
I know, it's a complex situation with many variables that can't even be fully defined, much less accounted for. That's true, but we can only try to mitigate this disaster as best we can, or sit back and complain about those who are trying to fix it. Your choice.
This is really sad, I always liked turtles. And frogs.
We may soon see a rash of BP stations being razed with the only clue being some discarded pizza boxes.
That the 'experts' are worrying about, but really... what are the other options?
What are the potential outcomes of letting the hatchlings make their way into the polluted water?
Turtles die of exposure to oil
Turtles survive because all the predators have already died from the oil
Most turtles die, except for a few that have a natural ability to survive on oil
Surviving turtles attack remaining oil reservoirs and consume them
Seriously, I think that the people who have committed themselves to preventing a straight up die off of an entire generation of gulf-coast turtles should be commended as heros.
fwiw, I hope that the 70K extra turtle on the Atlantic coast overwhelm the natural predators and allow more hatchlings to reach adulthood. Is there a chance that the introduced population could displace the natives? Possibly.
What have been the results of other navigating species (salmon, birds, monarch butterflies...) who are relocated?
Wherever You Go, There You Are
His view is backed up by evidence that suggests turtles are programmed from birth to follow a specific migratory path once in water. Indeed, turtles from different nesting sites seem to inherit different sets of navigational instructions.
Basically, in the past they have exposed turtles (in tanks?) to magnetic fields and found that they follow the magnetic fields as if they were navigating through the ocean. It kind of surprises me that no one has ever taken a turtle from Texas and put it in the ocean in Florida just to see what would happen. Here is their chance: hope they pay attention to what the turtles do.
Qxe4
release 1/2 from the sand
release 1/2 out to sea
Then we'll know, right ?
Absolute statements are never true
So the west coast of Florida is having vacations cancelled because of the oil and now with the release of 50-60,000 confused turtles attracting sharks in a feeding frenzy now the east coast of Florida will suffer as the vacation are cancelled there also.
. . . but not by much.
It's a chance, though as one of the experts in TFA said, "Why not place them into an area that is thought to be part of their normal migratory route?"
I thought that there are loggerheads on the Atlantic/eastern seaboard beaches? Are the gulf turtles so different that they could not survive the change?
Just build a sewer elsewhere and order in some pizza, the turtles will soon move.
This study shows how the east coast turtles make their way to the gulf stream using; visual cues, wave direction and (finally) magnetic direction:
http://www.unc.edu/depts/oceanweb/turtles/offshr.html
They do not show any info on how they make their way back.
What information are you using to determine that they will just wander back to the gulf?
At the very least this will give a great study on the 'homing' tendencies of turtles. Do they reurn to where they were hatched (learned behavior) or do they return to where their genetic forebearers lived (genetic imprinting)?
What advantage do you see to allowing them to die? Is it simply less work for humans? And if those people were not already actively invovled in fixing the well or cleaning up sludge, what negative effect could it have on those efforts?
Wherever You Go, There You Are
Nowhere have I seen any information about tagging the turtles to monitor their progress. It might be impossible given their small size at birth in comparison to their adult size, and the fact that this population takes about 18 years to reach sexual maturity. The LAT has a few more details: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-oil-spill-turtles-20100715,0,2244379.story
then placed over a flame and lightly seasoned. Mmmm turtle soup.
I have to wonder - if all the baby turtles natural predators are already dead, and we go release ~70'000 healthy hand nurtured healthy turtles in an ecosystem whose balance has been totally screwed up, perhaps for many decades to come... whether we are just going to be heaping more shit on top of what we have already dumped on the system. The ecosystem does not care that turtles have big teary looking eyes - those little beak's still have to eat something...
The same species that nest in the Gulf also nest on the East Coast of Florida which is oil free. The real issue is whether the built in homing instinct for nesting will be to the original nest or to the transplant nest from which they emerge. I have no knowledge of whether the issue has ever been studied. Either way it is still a big problem as the East Coast breeding grounds may not support additional nests as over population and erosion take their toll on natural conditions.
Indeed, and when those poor turtles have been exposed to all the toxic mutagens in the oil and the weird chemical dispersants that have been employed, we could all be in serious trouble once they become teenagers...
G.
No one else seems to have said it, so I guess it's up to me.
The Turtle Moves!
Indeed, and when those poor turtles have been exposed to all the toxic mutagens in the oil and the weird chemical dispersants that have been employed, we could all be in serious trouble once they become teenagers...
G.
True, but thy still have to find a rat to train them...
I hear people taste good basted in cocoa butter, aloe, or other flavors of SPF. The oceans around Florida are full of enticing human sized morsels.
Every mans' island needs an ocean; choose your ocean carefully.
Do they just need to rescue the turtles on the surface, or is it turles all the way down?
RIGHT 90
RIGHT 90
FORWARD 100
slim and none. Take your pick.
Anyone else feeling a TMNT / Captain Planet crossover right about now?
Maybe it's the alcohol talking, but ROFL...
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
Just about all turtles are endangered - there are a hell of a lot less of them now than there were a few hundred years ago. We've already fucked up the ecosystem by killing most of the turtles.... What most turtles eat (jellyfish) don't seem to be endangered at all - the lack of turtles and other predators seems to be increasing jellyfish numbers. Too many turtles is not going to wreck the ocean biosphere any time soon.
The Turtle Moves!
As far as I can tell, there are 6 main ways we are systematically destroying ecosystems. (Not including global warming!) Through what I call the 6 p’s of ecosystem destruction we are systematically taking nature and paving it over, ploughing it up, polluting it, preying on predators, spreading pests, and over-populating the entire planet!
So as well as the normal conservation programs, I'm guessing we are going to see more of these radical interventions to try and same some of the biodiversity on this planet.
You've never seen a turtle?!? Where do you live??
I guess I'm on the opposite end of the scale from you, I've CRASHED A CAR because of a fucking snapping turtle!
So it's bad to try to fix something we screwed up?
http://pinopsida.com
Serious comment: fortunately, the French eat land turtles, not sea turtles. Most land turtles aren't quite as endangered.
http://pinopsida.com
Yes, oil is natural; it's naturally underground. Perhaps you also subscribe to Rush Limbaugh's theory that since it's natural, it'll go away without us doing anything.
http://pinopsida.com
Most land turtles aren't quite as endangered.
So couldn't we teach them to swim and solve the problem that way ?
Thanks for the link to the article which I read. Learned it is not Limbaugh's but Roy Spencer, PhD's, theory. http://www.drroyspencer.com/about/
Mod Me Up. You'll make a grown man cry.
They also need to find a news reporter named April and a guy with a hockey mask named Casey.
http://www.thetechnologygeek.org
Even if the turtle's navigation is goofed because of the relocation, at least the people from this project are trying something. I can certainly applaud that. Better to give these turtles a fighting chance than sending them to definite doom.
This way they have a chance, and I think most people underestimate the adaptability of animals, they may be fine navigation wise, but what will they come back to?
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
"...and we go release ~70'000 healthy hand nurtured healthy turtles..."
I wondered the same thing, so I went to TFA to look for photos of 70,000 turtles since I figured that'd be pretty cool to see. Most turtles I saw was a dozen, no photos of large hangars full of turtles or hundreds of containers full of eggs or anything, so I'm wondering where the other 69,988 turtles are, or if "70,000" was just the number of turtle eggs usually laid each year and they used that number but have no intention of actually saving 70,000 turtle eggs.
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
Upgrade their navigation systems.
The turtles have probably evolved very well. I mean, their cuteness makes us humans feel sorry for them and help them survive. Appealing to another species that can benefit their long term survival is a relative advantages. I'm sure not many people would care if a disgusting creature like the cockroach goes extinct, unless that would become a problem for a more liked creature.
I think turtles are going to do just fine, if only because some of us help them out when they are having a hard time. It's fortunate that humans can act on behalf of other creatures, new generations tend have a soft spot for biodiversity.
I for one would like to see that my grandchildren will have the opportunity to see such a wonderful creature. Even if they might not care, I don't see why we should leave them to face extinction. Biodiversity can benefit us in ways that go beyond simple exotic amusement.
Now I think this is not a task that should be covered by the government with taxpayer funds, but rather by private foundations.
Dear humans,
Please stop screwing with survival of the fittest. It doesn't work. Ever.
Sincerely, kingdom Animalia.
Surely I am not the only one to have not immediately thought of the Gulf of Mexico?
My first thought was of the Persian Gulf, and a Google search for "The Gulf" brings that up first too.
Ceci n'est pas un sig.
OK, I have seen a turtle.
In the zoo. On TV/Movies. Maybe once, long ago, running over them on a turnpike somewhere, back east.
No. Turtles do not come up in everyday life in the arid southwest. I see mostly people, way too many people. Then ants, birds (the hawks are cool), and the occasional coyote. Oh, and once in a while a rattlesnake - oh and lots of rabbits, and rats, which I don't really think of as useful to me in any way.
But no. No turtles in any way more meaningful to me than Saber tooth Tigers or Woolly Mammoths.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.