Hey Readers,

For those of you who haven’t stopped by the center in a while, a new mobile diamondback terrapin exhibit is now on display! As many of you are aware, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center does not only take care of sick and injured sea turtles, but we take care of other turtles as well. One in particular is found in the marsh, the diamondback terrapin.

During May-July female Diamondback terrapins frequently try to cross the causeway looking for a place to lay their eggs. Unfortunately, they are often hit by cars and then brought to the center for rehabilitation. In our efforts to spread the word about protecting this unusual species, the Georgia Sea Turtle staff and artist Raymond Rawls worked very hard to create two mobile displays teaching about the diamondback terrapin life history, the threats they face, and ways to help in their conservation. The exhibit includes amazing dioramas, diamondback fun fact flip doors, an ongoing scenic video, turn panels outlining various aspects of a terrapins life, a “plinko” style game where you drop coins onto a board to see if you (the coin) can make it past all the threats a terrapin can face and last but not least, a video game called Cohen’s Causeway Cross to test your “Frogger” like gaming abilities. It is up to you to get your terrapin safely across the road by strategically placing crossing signs, artificial nest mounds, and fencing along the road.

If it has been a while since you have visited the center, or even if you have never been before, the new exhibit is definitely worth the trip. Come check out Raymonds “green” design, and say hello to the patients while you are there!

Cheers,

The Rehabilitation Staff

Before your visit to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, be sure to download our new AUDIO TOUR! There are 13 different podcasts, recorded by the GSTC education staff, that coordinate with each of the exhibits around the center. The podcasts include new and exciting never before heard information about sea turtles that is not available on our exhibits. These podcasts can be downloaded to your computer and added to your mp3 player. You can find this audio tour at http://www.georgiaseaturtlecenter.org/about-us/hours-admission/audiotour/

Liz Jeyes
Education Intern

Here’s the latest update on the sea turtle nests and false crawls on Jekyll Island, GA:

In other, related news….HATCHING SEASON HAS BEGUN! While it is still just beginning and rather slow, we are expecting it to pick up soon!  So, we have decided to start our Hatchling Walk Program!  Please visit our website: www.georgiaseaturtlecenter.org for more information and schedule.  Call 912-635-4444 for reservations (space is limited!).

Please remember and follow the turtle-friendly tips we’ve listed on previous BLOG postings and on our website..lighting is especially important in regards to the hatchlings, so leave those flashlights at home!

With hatching season upon us, we have some additional guidelines we’d like everyone to follow:

-If you see a nest hatching, please remain at least 20 feet away from it.  The research team (i.e. Turtle Patrol) needs to count these tracks and record other various, valuable data from these nests in the mornings.  Walking on the hatchling tracks impedes this process and documentation.  You also run the risk of stepping on a hatchling!

-NEVER pick up a hatchling and/or ‘help it to the ocean’.  Hatchlings gather very important information during their journey from the nest to the water.  They also build up muscle strength during this time and a determination to fight for survival-all very important skills needed to improve their chances at making it to adulthood and coming back to nest on Jekyll!

-If you see a hatchling near the water, flipped upside down, please resist the temptation to flip it back over.  At this stage, their flippers are a little too big for them with, together with their ‘rubbery’ shells (not yet completely hardened), they can actually flip themselves over quite nicely! And again, this is important to their survival skills.

-To reports a disoriented hatchling (i.e. in the dunes, cross-overs, parking lots or street) or a ‘wash-back’ hatchling (one that has been washed back onto shore and appears too week to fight the surf), please call the GSTC at 912-635-4444 with as much information about the hatchling and it’s location as possible.

-Remember, hatchlings are easily negatively impacted by artificial lighting.  Never take flash photos of them at night, shine a flashlight or any other type of light at them.

Thank you all for your cooperation in assuring all of our turtle mothers and hatchlings have the best chance of survival on Jekyll Island!

Sincerely,
Stefanie Ouellette
Marine Field Programs Coordinator

Greetings Everyone,

Here is a blog that got lost in the website change over back in October. Better late than never.

Back in late August, I was hired on by Wild Earth TV (better known as WE) located in the Sabie Sands area On the South West border of Kruger National Park South Africa as a camera operator.

Here I learned that one of the other staff members at WE Rexon Ntimane was from a small village named Dixie that was in the area. Rexon has a great deal of passion and hope for the future of the children in his community that he helped build a school, and was in the process of building a community center.

Knowing how wonderful our GSTC community is, I started a school supply donation box to take some small simple supplies with me to donate to the children, and got enough donations to help out both Dixie and another neighboring pre-school.

On Thursday September 25, 2009 the WE team headed to Dixie to get some promotion shots for “Take the Kids to a Movie” (read about it and Dixie at http://www.wildearth.tv/blog you will have to search around as WE updates their blog often so check the archives) and afterward the children flocked to the car to receive a pen and a GSTC pencil.

Rexon and the children thank you all for your gifts.

Photos by: Pieter Pretorius

I am back again working with the Center again as a Patrol intern. Feel free to stop in and see our facility and learn all about Sea Turtles, and see some of our patients.

Have a Great day.

Simon Dilts

Patrol Intern

You may be aware that the GSTC Education Department provides outreach programs about sea turtles throughout the southeastern United States, but did you know that we travel to the Caribbean?!?! But of course – we are always up for an opportunity to spread the word about sea turtle conservation!  It was only 3 short years ago that Alicia Marin, now GSTC Education Coordinator, spent the summer working on the small island of Nevis, assisting the Nevis Turtle Group (NTG) with their sea turtle monitoring project.  When the NTG was approached by the Four Seasons resort with an interest in providing a sea turtle related activity for children, Alicia jumped at the chance to work with local children, and developed a Sea Turtle Camp on the spot!  The program was so successful (100 children graduated from Camp that summer), she continued to perfect the curriculum as her Master’s thesis at Duke University, which is currently pending publication.

Alicia and Sarah Eckert (former GSTC Educator) are spending 3 life changing weeks in the West Indies, assisting with Sea Turtle Camp, Caribbean style.  This past week we were on the island of St. Kitts and had the pleasure of working with local Kittian children, thanks to the generous support of the St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network.  We offered 2, half day camps; 6-8 year olds in the morning and 13-16 year olds in the afternoon.  Each day the Campers focused on a particular aspect of sea turtle biology, conservation, and threats that they face.

We first began with an introduction to sea turtles, and learned about the Amazing Adaptations™ that sea turtles face. So OF COURSE we had to make our own shells and beaks!  The children had the opportunity to express their creativity while decorating their paper carapaces (top shell) and plastrons (bottom shell).  Thanks to the efforts of the in water tagging team, our older Campers were able to see a juvenile Hawksbill sea turtle!

No day is complete without snack, and our Campers were given only the best treats.  After learning about the nesting process, and how sea turtles are Egg-cellent Nest Protectors™, Campers became nesting females and buried their “eggs” (marshmallows) in their “nest” (pudding, graham crackers and whipped cream) to keep them safe.  The older Campers learned about natural and human associated threats through a bingo like game called T-H-R-E-A-T™.  Not only did the Campers learn a lot, but they had a blast!  Let’s be honest, you are never too old or too young for Bingo.

The Campers also learned how people of all ages can help sea turtles.  Our morning Campers, played a game of Garbage in the Water to show the effects of marine debris on sea turtles, and learned how long it takes for certain items to break down.  Dr. Kimberly Stewart then presented on the St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network, and introduced opportunities for the older Campers to get involved.  This included creating beads from glass bottles that would have otherwise been discarded!  That’s right, glass bottles!  Andy, a sea turtle conservationist by day and stand up comic by night, did a mind blowing glass bead making demo for the Campers and Staff.  Each Camper (and even us!) had the chance to create a beautiful glass bead necklace. The St. Kitts Sea Turtle Project has conducted several workshops for local fisherman to encourage their participation in this glass bead initiative in which everyone benefits.  This program allows Kittians the chance to receive monetary compensation, glass to be recycled, and sea turtle projects to be supported. We even had at least one interested Camper! Wondering where you can purchase these unique glass beads?  Well, the GSTC of course! We are proud to sell these one of a kind glass bead necklaces and keychains in our gift shop, helping to support this wonderful program.

After only 4 short days it was apparent how much fun these Campers had and even more amazing was how much they learned.  This week was one to remember for a life time, and this is only the beginning of our Caribbean EXTREME Outreach.  This week we educated 25 children, but there’s more to come!  Be sure to check out the blog next week to learn about Sarah’s outreach adventures on St. Kitts, as she educates 9-12 year olds for round 2 of Sea Turtle Camp and Alicia’s outreach adventures on Nevis, as she assists Barbara Whitman with her Under the Sea Camp.

“Liming” in the Caribbean,

Alicia and Sarah