Turtle Tagging

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I've been neglecting my blog........but with good reason!! After the last update my time at the Archelon project became even more involved and interesting.
Emily and I were joined by two American school kids from the Southern States, they were on an adventure travel experience run by the discovery channel and were joining us to experience a conservation project. Being called sir by a very polite and attentive couple of school kids called John and Megan, with a soft Southern drawl I couldn't help but smile at every time they spoke, made for a good morning survey on C section. We found 1 nest and Emily and I got John and Megan to help us dig for the eggs and take the measurements then hammer in the protective grid and bamboo. We were all invited to a lunch hosted by the Discovery group where we ate mousaka and were given a presentation by the school kids about what they'd learned about the coastal eco-system. That night I began a run of six night surveys!
Night survey's start at 11pm and continue until you run out of turtles....normally around 4:30am. My first night was with Brian Ground, our project leader. He was assessing me and acting as my scribe. We got five turtles that night! Night survey involves patrolling A sector beach for turtles coming ashore to nest. When a turtle is spotted, no torches just using your night vision, we monitor it from a distance and evaluate what it's doing. It may just be coming ashore for a look or it might have a go at digging a nest or body pitting. If we see it digging a nest we position ourselves so we can see it moving without disturbing it. For me that means getting on the right side so that I can see its silhouette. When its digging it moves its back end slowly from side to side as it reaches in with its hind flippers to scoop out sand, it flicks each flipper full of sand which it scoops out much like you would with your hand if it was in an oven glove, on alternate sideways movements so you can see the sand being flicked away. When it stops flicking sand I crawl up behind it and try to see if it is laying. You can see this without having to turn on your red light torch by watching its hind flippers which rise slightly with each contraction. If it is laying I then note the time and get all the equipment organised with the help of my scribe. Once we've got the metal tag pliers, plastic tag pliers, leather hole punch and PIT microchip needle gun with microchip inserted, I crawl back up to the turtle and can put the red torch light on without disturbing the turtle. I check the eggs being laid and visibly check its Carapace for identifying features and the hind flippers for any tags or visible damage, I don't touch the turtle at this point. Normally they lay eggs 3 at a time and take about 10-12 minutes to complete laying. I watch for her to start covering the nest with her hind flippers and note the time. At this point I give her a full check over for any tags, identifying features and note how many post ocular scoots she has either side and I scan for a microchip. If she has no tags I go for the PIT tag first. The PIT is injected into her left front shoulder muscle, I clean the area with betadine then use the needle gun to inject the microchip then scan her shoulder to ensure the microchip has deployed correctly. This is the trickiest manoeuvre as her skin is thick and the needle large, so often a bit of force is needed to get the needle in, plus you're very close to her head and her sharp beak and she is very strong so you have to keep a firm grip of her flipper so you don't injure her or get injured yourself by her front claw which is on the under side of her flipper. Once the PIT is in I do the metal tag next. This has an ID number and Archelon's address on it and we place it in the webbing between the 1st and 2nd finger nails (the bone structure within the flipper is much like a human hand), if the turtle didn't flinch when the PIT went in she will flinch when you punch the metal tag in! Once in check it's in properly. Next it's the plastic tag which again has an ID number and Archelon's address on it. We place the plastic tag between the 1st and 2nd nails on the hind right flipper. So get a firm grip of the flipper, which she is using to cover the nest but she takes a couple of seconds break every now and then so I time punching the hole in her flipper for one of these rest moments. The leather punch cuts a hole but you have to pull the bit of skin out which can be fiddly......then when she rest again I punch the plastic tag into position and check it's correctly attached. When the tags are all in, which should take a couple of minutes at most, it's time to take measurements. She might have started camouflaging by now so you note the time she started that and make sure your feet are clear of all four flippers while you take measurements. First I take the straight length with the callipers, this measurement is from the point where the Carapace meets her neck to the end of the longest tail scoot. Normally 3 measurements or sometimes more are taken to ensure an accurate reading. Next I do the straight width with the callipers which involves straddling the turtle and finding the widest point on her Carapace, after that I take the curved width and curved length measurements with the tape measure. Finally I take the tail measurement. The tail is under the Carapace near her cloacal (egg laying appendage), she uses her tail a bit like a track digger uses its bucket to lift the tracks off the ground and move from side to side....she pushes her tail into the sand and this lifts her hind area off of the sand so she can manoeuvre more easily. Her tail is quite prehensile and it feels almost like a baby gripping your finger when she curls it around your finger when you try to get a measurement.......I wait for her to relax her tail then lift it gently into a straight position so we can take a measurement. Once all that's done I give her a final check over to see if there's anything I'd missed. We note the time she leaves the nest and finally the time she re-enters the sea. All measurements, times and tag ID's are written in the night survey book along with any distinguishing features and any damage she has. The last thing we do is mark the position of the nest with bamboo and write the tag numbers on stones which we leave on the nest site for the morning survey team to note down. On my night with Brian this is how all my tagging went.....but it's not always so straight forward!!!
I did a couple of nights as a night survey leader which involves doing all the tagging and having a fellow volunteer act as scribe.
I was then asked by Brian if I'd like to train up another tagger? Of course I would.......
First night went well, I showed Alishea the sequence of events and how to position your body so you're not off balance or awkwardly positioned for tagging ect.......When a turtle is laying she produces pain killing endorphins and goes into a partial trance like state and we use these natural processes to help us tag and so she doesn't feel too much pain or discomfort. Alishea and I had a turtle who only laid a handfull of eggs and so hadn't gone into her trance nor totally released the painkilling endorphins.....as I pushed the PIT needle in she reared up and tried to bite me, thankfully I didn't let go of the PIT and managed to get it in ok.....then as I held her flipper for the metal tag she pulled me off balance and got my wrist with her front claw.....managed to metal tag....then went for the plastic tag and got it in without injury........she finished camouflaging and started to leave the nest so I restrained her while Alishea took the measurements...restraining involves getting infront of the turtle and placing your hands over her eyes with your fingers on top of her head and well clear of her sharp strong beak she uses for crushing shellfish, and applying a little pressure......the turtle was not happy and reared up pushing me back. When a turtle is being restrained they move in circles....this one was moving fast and trying to get me with her front claws.....Alishea did a great job of taking the measurements and we let her go to the sea as soon as we had all the measurements....forget the tail on this one! Bit of a baptism of fire for Alishea but if she managed that one she could manage anything...we checked our wounds and both had been caught on our wrists by the claws...mine was in the shape of a Zoro sword mark :-) I still have the Z scar!!!
The next day an Italian TV crew turned up to film the work we do with the turtles so Alishea and I were filmed filling out the night survey sheets at camp and will be starring on Italian TV in the near future LOL
After six night surveys I had a day off which I spent lying on the beach :-D
I was on morning surveys for the next 3 days. On one morning survey we came across a dead turtle which had washed up on the beach. To establish the cause of death an experienced member of the Archelon team from the rescue centre performed a Necropsy which I and 3 others assisted at. We found a large line fishing hook stuck in the turtles throat which may have been the cause of death. It was fascinating to see the internal workings of the turtle as I'd spent so much time observing the outside of turtles it was interesting to see how their anatomy worked.
We all went for a hike up into the mountains behind Kalo Nero to a fairy pool of a waterfall with ice cold water which took your breath away when you dived in!!! We returned via the river canyon which was great as we kept cool in the blazing afternoon heat, it was so hot even the dust have given up and lay motionless. The afternoon was finished off at a taverna with beautiful stunning views from the terrace down the valleys studded with pine and desert scrub vegetation. The food was excellent and my first taste of meat for nearly two weeks.......surprisingly my body did not go into shock at the surprise of being given meat!!!
I finished my time with Archelon training up taggers on night surveys. Night surveys are a great time to get to know people and I had many interesting and enjoyable conversations as we walked along the beach through the night. I hope Alishea, Theresa (who stabbed me with the PIT needle just after she'd taken it out of the turtle!), Dom, Gary and Tomas had as good a time as I did on night survey!!
On my last night we all went out to Louka's for dinner then sat drinking back at camp waiting for the night survey teams to get back......at 3:30 the first night team came back and so we all went to the beach for a swim....the water was warm and full of phytoplankton which gave off phosphorescence making the sea sparkle as we swam, it was magical!!

My time with the Archelon Sea Turtle Project was brilliant......I loved every minute of it and can't believe how much I as a volunteer was allowed to do. It really was a privilege to get to work so closely with the Loggerhead Sea Turtles. When I left we had logged 337 nests!! and I'd tagged 14 and helped train 4 new taggers :-D

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