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Published: April 5th 2010
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Iguana!
I was surprised the Iguana let them play w/ it! night patrols
Ok, I have saved the turtle night patrols for one blog because, well, there is alot to explain and I thought since that was the sole purpose I was down in Panama to begin with, it deserved its own blog!
Ok night patrols. Between March and April the female leatherback turtle swims ashore, lays her eggs, buries them, and then leaves. Well, would be nice if it was that easy, but its not. There are human predators as well as animal predators. Everyone wants those eggs. The Mama turtle lays anywhere from 50-80 eggs. They are about the size of a golf ball. The night patrols consisted of us getting together in small groups of three or four people. We'd basically walk up and down the beach for about 3 hours until we saw any turtles. If no turtles appear....its kind of boring. Luckily, everynight except one, I got to see turtles, and on one night got to see even two turtles laying eggs. The whole process takes about 2 hours. The turtle normally comes out only at night and we are only allowed to wear dark clothing and carry flashlights with a red cover light on
them. Taking pictures is completely out of the question. The bright light can distract the turtle and cause her not to lay the eggs and she will just go back out to sea.
She begins to nest by digging a hole with her back fins. It is about the size of 75 cm or arms length and the "boot" she makes at the end of the hole in order to bury her babies. Afterwards she will bury them and try to conceal the area and go back out to sea. It is a very amazing experience.
The very first time I saw that beautiful animal I was taken aback. Ive always known it would be huge, but nothing prepares you for it. Her head was about the size of a human head! her eyes were huge, about the size of....well, I have no idea, something that is huge. Also, measuring the animals, tagging them, and monitoring their behavior is part of the job as well. We had a sheet of paper which we had to write down the measurements, her length and width. If the turtle doesnt already have a tag, we have to tag her. Kind of
I like this pic
I like this pic of Shen and Neil.... like those "tags" you see on cows ears at dairy farms. usually, the same turtles will return to the same beach. If she has a tag, we take down the serial number and her number is entered on a data base and its basically scientific information and an easy way to monitor them. These animals are endangered so its very important to persurve her eggs.
What do we do once she lays the eggs? You ask? Well, one night, and this was my favorite night ever, I was with Neil, and the other guy whom I cant remember his name (I'm sorry!) well, we caught the turtle before she had laid her eggs. The local gave Neil a bag, told him to place it under her, and wait for her to lay the eggs.
Neils exact words as he held the bag under the turtle "This is the most surreal thing I've ever done" All I could think was "me too" I'd never seen or done anything like that before. Suddenly, everything I've worked towards in the last 5 months came back to me.... I was here, in Panama, living out two of my passions, helping animals and
traveling.
Well, after she laid her eggs, I put on the gloves and counted each egg. The exact number of eggs has to be accounted for. Then, I put the eggs into the hole we had dug! Sadly, the hatchery had not been finished, she we had to put the eggs in a t
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