Today was, as always, an incredibly fun day here at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. As a form of enrichment for Dylan and Bevelyn we decided to make them fishsicles! We took containers and filled them with water and some fishy snacks and then froze it overnight. This morning, we gave Dylan (on the left) his and he immediately began going after the ice trying to get the fish. As the ice melted he was able to pull the fish out and once they were all gone he finished off the ice with one powerful chomp.

A little while later, after Bev (on the right) had recieved her physical therapy for the day we gave her a fishsicle as well. Even though she couldn’t get her mouth open as wide she also immediately began trying to get the fish out. It took her a little longer but we were able to observe her opening her mouth much better than during a normal feeding, as the ice was floating on the top. As you can see from the pictures even though Bev has made great improvement she still has quite a way to go before she is opening her mouth the whole way.

Jeannie Miller Aquarist

Tomorrow, August 26, is Dylan’s Birthday! He’ll be 9 years old and we’d like YOU to come celebrate with us!!! We’ll have a table set up for you to make him a birthday card and we’ll sing to him at 2:30pm when he gets a birthday treat!!! Come one, come all, to DYLAN’S BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!!!

~Stef and Alicia, GSTC Educators

With the advent of hatching season, the GSTC began it’s Hatchling Walk Program on July 25, 2007! These walks are conducted in the early morning hours on Sundays, Wednesdays and Saturdays through mid-September. Volunteer Walk Guides take the Hatchling Walk Participants on a 30-minute beach ecology tour, focusing on sea turtle nesting and hatching habitat and behavior.

The Guide leads the group to an active sea turtle nest that has been hatching naturally for 5-7 days. The GSTC Staff Interns meet the Walk Group at the nest, then conduct a post-hatching excavation to take an inventory of the nest. Data sheets are provided to the Walk Participants so that they may assist the Interns in recording the data. The photo to the right shows Ruba, one of our many dedicated volunteers, showing the Walk Participants a straggler hatchling (in the bucket) and explaining why the hatchling may have been stuck in the nest.

Walk Participants get an up-close view of the excavation and the contents from inside the nest, as seen in the photo to the right. Here, Stefanie Ouellette (Education and Field Coordinator–GSTC) and Mark Dodd (Georgia’s Sea Turtle Program Coordinator–GADNR) are training the Interns on their first post-hatching excavation.

Occassionally a live, straggler hatchling is found inside the nest and released for the group!

We still have space on some of the Walks, so call today for your reservations!

Stefanie Ouellette, Education and Field Coordinator

Greetings from the GSTC Education Team! We apologize for not having a presence on the Blog sooner, and as you’re about to see, we’ve had a busy, fun-filled summer. We have successsfully completed our first season of Children’s Summer Programs, in association with our new facility! For the last 6 weeks, we hosted two separate summer programs; Hatchling Programs (Ages 2-4) and Turtle Time (Ages 5-12). We are proud to announce that these programs were attended by approximately 130 children!

The GSTC hosted the Hatchling Programs on Friday mornings from 9:30-11 am. Left is a picture taken during the “Hooray for Hatchlings” program. Children joined Public Outreach Educator, Alicia Marin, to learn all about baby sea turtles as they break out of their eggs, dig their way up through the sand and race to the sea. Each Hatchling Program involved an interactive hands-on activity, craft, and sometimes a yummy snack!

Saturday mornings, the GSTC staff had the opportunity to work with older children during the “Turtle Time” programs. These 2 hour programs focused on topics such as the “Amazing Adaptations” of sea turtles, how to “Crack the Crawl”, that “It’s Tough being a Sea Turtle, and that they too can help our fine, flippered friends. Picture right are students from the “Lend ‘em a Flipper” program, presenting their sea turtle creations made from recyled trash found during a beach cleanup.

We were extremely pleased with the success of these programs and look forward to hosting the first annual Sea Turtle Camp in 2008! Be sure to keep checking the Blog/Website for upcoming education programs this Fall/Winter. A special thanks to all those who participated in our programs this summer! The GSTC staff had a blast and we know you did too!!!

Alicia Marin, Public Outreach Educator

The picture above gives a glimpse into our educational exhibit gallery where you can also view veterinary treatments through a window into the hospital. Interpretive volunteers in the gallery have an invaluable role: engaging visitors and enhancing their experience at the center.

Megan York, Volunteer Coordinator

This afternoon we had a mini terrapin hatchling baby boom! We had three hatchlings totally emerge and a fourth start to hatch. We got some great pictures of the action happening that I wanted to share with you. We now have 24 hatchlings in our terrapin nursery.

Today has been very exciting. I’m in the office late tonight, but I’m not here alone. I’m surrounded by some of our incredible volunteers, interns, and some folks from Savannah College of Art and Design that have been filming over the past few months. I can’t quite explain how excited I am to have such incredible support from the community. From helping in the muck of daily work, to bringing us food on late nights we couldn’t do it without them and I want to take a moment to say THANKS!

Jeannie Miller Aquarist

Since her arrival to the GSTC, Bevelyn has been undergoing daily physical therapy to treat her inability to open her jaw more than a limited amount. We have been trying out a new technique that consists of stacking wooden rulers in between the two jaw ropes. This method has also been used with humans who have had lockjaw. Most recently (8/14) we reached a measurement of 68mm, her widest yet! In other exciting news, Bev was fed live blue crabs today and was able to consume them on her own! She has made progress here at the center and we are hoping for the best.
Stay tuned for more updates!

-Allison Ebersole, intern

Bevelyn, Bev for short, is a loggerhead sea turtle that was found floating in St. Andrew’s Sound, Florida, located in the Gulf of Mexico, on July 21, 2006 of last year. She was lethargic, emaciated(thin) and had a heavy epibiota on her carapace and skin. Bev was transported to Gulf World Marine Park in Panama City Beach, FL and remained in their care until recently. On August 1, 2007 Bev was transported by our staff to the GSTC. She has been named “Bevelyn” in honor of Bevelyn Hardy, a well known sea turtle supporter and conservationist from the area, whom we lost to cancer earlier this year.

We are conducting physical therapy on Bev once a day, to increase the amount she can open her mouth. This is done with two pieces of garden hose that have bungee cords threaded through them. We place one on her bottom jaw and pull down the other on her top jaw and pull up. Bev gets two 5 minute sessions with a minute of rest and neck massage in between each session. Bev at first could only open her mouth approximately 38mm but with every session she has progressed to now being able to open her mouth to 66 mm! Further assessment of Bev is needed to determine the cause of the jaw problem and/or determine further treatment options. A CT scan, MRI, EMG and muscle biopsy are currently being discussed.

Bev, currently a thin 206.5 pounds, eats very well on her own, only having trouble with thicker pieces of fish. We offer her mackerel, herring, and squid. A typical loggerhead weighs 250-300 pounds she needs to add a few more before she is at a nice healthy weight.

Michelle Kaylor, Aquarist II

We’ve had a LONG day so I’m going to keep you in some suspense for now, but I wanted to give you a glimpse of our newest patient. Thanks to Jeannie, Stefanie and Alicia for making the 14 hour trip to bring her here!