Scientists solve the mystery of sea turtles' 'lost years'

https://phys.org/news/2025-02-scientists-mystery-sea-turtles-lost.html

by pseudolus • 1 year ago

41 7 1 year ago

tldr; They found that sea turtles have been swimming in the sea

jacobn• 1 year ago

Scientists long thought that tiny turtles drifted passively with ocean currents, literally going with the flow.
"What we've uncovered is that the turtles are actually swimming,"
the trick was developing flexible solar-powered tags that could hang onto shells long enough to send back data.
Eventually the GPS tags slough off because "the outside of a young turtle's shell sheds as they grow very quickly,"

v3ss0n• 1 year ago

Quite a bummer

ggm• 1 year ago

Mainly, they die. Very high attrition rate. Watching turtle egg laying at Mon Repos Beach near Bundaberg is fantastic. I'd love to see the hatching as well. (Leatherbacks, loggerheads and green turtles there)

ryanhunt• 1 year ago

Was there recently (Mon Repos in QLD, Australia), I recall them saying it was a 1 in 1000 survival rate [1, 2] which may explain why mothers are laying ~120 eggs in each clutch multiple times each season. If you head back to Mon Repos around this time of year (Feb through March) you're much more likely to see the eggs hatch.

Good news recently too, this season (2024/2025) has seen a record-breaking number of eggs being laid in Mon Repos[3]. Highly recommend anyone goes visit, pretty special.

1: https://parks.desi.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/16... 2: https://seaturtlealliance.org.au/loggerhead/ 3: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02-05/endangered-turtles-br...

inquist• 1 year ago

The summary article makes it sound like it’s somehow surprising that sea turtles can swim. The paper itself clarifies that it’s more a question of whether there are trends in the directionality of their swimming.

Studies that compared turtle movements to oceanographic drifters suggest that swimming by young sea turtles directs their oceanic dispersal [19,21]. In addition, research in the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic suggests that young oceanic-stage turtles actively swim and there may be distinct differences among species in orientation, dispersal and swimming behaviour [19,21]. Understanding whether and when juvenile turtles are active swimmers or passive drifters is critical for determining dispersal trajectories, exposure and transition times in areas impacted by anthropogenic activities (e.g. oil spills) and connectivity between populations and habitats [29]. Without basic biological and behavioural data, it is difficult to improve assessments of anthropogenic impacts on protected species, necessitating conservative or precautionary approaches to management using ‘best available data’.

DangitBobby• 1 year ago

I thought the article was quite clear about this. They thought turtles mostly followed currents but it turns out they swim their own route.

Scientists solve the mystery of sea turtles' 'lost years'

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