Marathon, Florida Keys

December 5 & 6, 2009

The Marathon Sea Turtle Hospital.

Each year, the Marathon Sea Turtle Hospital hosts an annual Sea Turtle Workshop at their facility in the Florida Keys. Sea turtle staffers and researchers, from all over the world, come together to discuss new data and interesting patient cases from the past year. As part of a small network of sea turtle hospitals, the Georgia Sea Turtle Center staff packed up and migrated south to join and share our experience and expertise with other facilities like ours!

Day one started off with formal presentations in true workshop style. The diversity of topics was unending: Leatherback blood mercury levels, neonate Australian Flatback behavior, 2009 nesting statistics, even future sea turtle facilities under construction. Of the 20 or so lectures, the GSTC staff had the highest Center representation with 5 presentations! There were so many changes at the Center to share since the 2008 conference: Dr. Terry Norton, Michelle Kaylor, Jeannie Miller, Stefanie Ouellette and Rachel Thomas spoke about the past, present and future of the GSTC, interesting patient cases, the start of the AmeriCorps program, sea turtle satellite tracking and the Adopt-a-Sea Turtle program at the GSTC.

Dr. Norton lecturing about the Georgia Sea Turtle Center at the Sea Turtle Workshop.

Day two of the workshop included a hands-on Necropsy (animal autopsy) lab. The brave GSTC folks had the opportunity to perform two necropsies: a sub adult Loggerhead entangled in fishing line and also ingested a two inch fishing hook with fishing line embedded into his intestine; the second, a Green who perished from the effects of fibropapillomatosis, a type of herpes virus. This virus is becoming an epidemic among sea turtle populations worldwide. Although sad and unfortunate, these turtle necropsies offered an unmatchable learning experience. We’ll be able to put that knowledge to use as we see more and more cases in the coming years.

Dr. Terry Norton, Simon Dilts, Michelle Kaylor and Jessica Self performing a necropsy on a Loggerhead sea turtle.

Overall, the short trip to Marathon was a great experience! I personally enjoyed learning about the other facilities and research, as well as meeting people who share the same interest and passion of sea turtle conservation. I also left feeling very grateful to be a part of the GSTC. This center has done so much for sea turtle conservation in a very small amount of time.

Thank you,

Jessica Self

GSTC Americorps Education Member

Hello Turtle and Opera Enthusiasts!

My name is Amanda Noble.  I was born in 1986.  That same year, Andrew Lloyd Webber debuted a musical entitled, “The Phantom of the Opera.”  The great opera composer had adapted a 1911 novel, Le Fantôme de l’Opéra, by French writer Gaston Leroux.  Well, the Opera was a hit!  It is the longest running Broadway, NY musicals in history!  (http://www.thephantomoftheopera.com, “The Show,” “Facts and Figures”)

On July 30, 2009, naturalists from Little Saint Simon’s Island brought us a 96 pound, sub-adult loggerhead sea turtle.  The turtle was later named, “Phantom,” because of its facial injury.  Here is why:

Phantom was missing half of its face and left eye; we were stunned by this patient’s injury.  When we performed a full-body X-ray on this particular turtle, we found a fishhook embedded in the throat!  Based off of past turtle patients, it was assumed that Phantom swallowed the fishhook in order to eat the bait, the line was reeled in, and the propeller of the boat may have sliced off most of the top beak and an eye of the turtle.*

The Phantom of the opera house had a severe facial injury, like our sea turtle.  However, one key difference (besides species) is that the opera’s Phantom wore a mask.  Our turtle patient is exposed for patrons of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center to view.  Phantom, the sea turtle, helps us explain the necessity for responsible fishing and boating practices.  Phantom is an obvious reminder that our behaviors can greatly affect the creatures that live on this planet with us.

The fishhook, which was embedded in Phantom’s esophagus, was extracted surgically and sent to a lab for analysis.  We wanted to know what type of hook it was and potentially where it came from.  We JUST found out that the hook was from a recreational (’rec’) fishing line and that it appeared to have been stuck in the throat for quite some time.  The GSTC respects that fishing is a way of life and hopes people in such industries respect our worlds’ turtles.

While recovering in our hospital, Phantom was treated with 1. Metacam, a pain medicine.  2. Ceftazidime & Metronidizole, antibiotics.  3. Iron pills, to help treat anemia.  4. Cisapride, for gut motility.  5. Fluid therapy, for hydration.  Recently, Phantom has been able to (slowly) capture and consume live blue crab!

Now, may I present to you,

‘The Phantom of the GSTC!’

(APPLAUSE)
Eh-em.  Background music, please….

“Beneath the water’s surface, you’ll see it there.
It’s missing half it’s face!!  Please, be aware.
When we offered whole food, Phantom tried to bite.
The Phantom of the GSTC is fighting for life.”

Ba-da-bada-da-dah….

“Those who have seen it’s face exclaim, ‘Oh, Dear!
Will Phantom, the sea turtle, ever leave here?’
I learned it swallowed a large fishhook from a ‘rec’ line.
The Phantom of the GSTC has had a tough time!”

Ba-da-bada-da-dah….

Thank you for joining me!

~Amanda Noble, GSTC Education Member~

If you are unfamiliar with The Phantom of The Opera theme song, please visit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej1zMxbhOO0

• Loggerhead : total nests = 71; total false crawls (Non-nesting emergences) = 140
• Leatherback total nests = 2; total false crawls = 0
• Total Emergences (Nests + False Crawls) = 213
• Completely depredated by a raccoon = 2 nests

We are very excited to announce our upcoming Teacher Appreciation Night at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center! This is a great opportunity for teachers to preview some of our educational programs and facilities in an exclusive after-hours event.

Start your evening with a few refreshments followed by an overview of different field trip options for your class. Next, you’ll have the opportunity to see three different school program options that correlate to the Georgia Performance Standards. Stick around as we close with a drawing for some great door prizes you can use in your classroom!

Interested? Get your whole school involved! Print this flyer & post it in your school/media center.

Details:

When: Monday, August 17th

Time: 4:30-7:30pm (Refreshments & check-in begin at 4:30, sneak peek from 5-7:30)

Cost: $5 (includes pizza & teacher materials)

Register: at www.jekyllisland.com/teacherappreciation.

For more information, see www.georgiaseaturtlecenter.org or call 912-635-4076.

We hope to hear from you soon!

~Stephanie Chong

Education Intern

Here is the most recent update for the Jekyll Island’s 2009 Sea Turtle Nesting Season:

We have reached the end of the 2009 sea turtle nesting season on Jekyll Island.  It’s been quite some time since we’ve seen a female, so we will be concluding our night patrol after this weekend.  But have no fear, you’ll still see us in the mornings on the beach conducting our dawn patrol and nest monitoring procedures!  Don’t forget to keep up the Turtle-Friendly habits as hatching season is just getting into full swing and can last through October!
Thanks to the 2009 Sea Turtle Patrol Interns and Volunteers who worked countless hours, at night and in the mornings, for the past 4 months to make this nesting/tagging season another great success!  I’ll share some overall results soon, so keep any eye on our BLOG and website!!!

Sincerely,
Stefanie Ouellette
Marine Field Programs Coordinator

Hi campers and guests!

I know that many of you have been eagerly waiting for an update on Caretta Hope, one of our sub-adult loggerhead sea turtles. She/he was named by the first ever Sea Turtle campers at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.

To give you some background, Caretta Hope came in on June 11, 2009 with early stages of debilitated turtle syndrome. She was not eating very well, had lots of epibiota on her carapace - living creatures such as barnacles on top of her shell - and was very lethargic. Also, the turtle is missing both back flippers!

You’ll be happy to know that she is swimming, diving, and acting normally for a sea turtle, as well as eating very well. When she arrived, her red blood cell count was at about 5% - it is now at 25% and almost at normal levels! We are going to continue to monitor her red blood cell count, continue iron treatments, and see that she eats well.

That’s all for now and enjoy the photos!

Stephanie Chong

~Education Intern

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

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

Hello again!

If you do not remember me, my name is Amanda.  I am one of the six 2009 patrol interns, and I have a short story to tell you.

Once upon a time, there was a female loggerhead sea turtle that nested near the Jekyll Island Club Hotel’s Beach Pavilion (otherwise known as Edy’s ice cream bar) on Jekyll Island.  She was a beautiful adult of 30-35 years, who had a plethora of epibiota on her carapace.  The life on her shell included things like tunicates, barnacles, bryozoans, bioluminescing plankton, and more!

The three on-duty patrol interns, John, Ashley, and Amanda, were amazed by the loveliness of this particular turtle (whom they appropriately named, “Turtle”).  They admired her as she crawled from the ocean to the dunes, body pitted, and dug her upside-down light bulb shaped egg chamber.

While Turtle was laying her eggs, the patrol interns turned on their red headlamps and got to work.  They noted the time and location of Turtle’s emergence.  They measured the length and width of her carapace.  They scanned her shoulders for a microchip PIT tag and looked carefully at her front flippers to see if they were pierced with metal tags.

Luckily for the excited interns, this Turtle was tagged.  She was a returning nester from earlier in the summer!

The interns discussed the previous emergence (EM29) of Turtle (EM90) while they waited for her to drop all of her clutch and cover her nest.  It seemed that Turtle had visited Jekyll Island once before that summer, but she had not nested.  John, Ashley, and Amanda reviewed their saturation tagging data sheet and found that Turtle had been tagged by them on her last emergence.  This made the interns very happy; they had inserted her tags correctly the first time around!

When Turtle was finished laying, she covered her nest with her dexterous hind flippers.  Then, she used her front flippers to camouflage her nest.  She wouldn’t want any predators (such as raccoons) to easily find her precious eggs, now would she?

Turtle left the happy interns some time after 3:15 am.  The interns had to move on before Turtle left her body pit.  However, before they did, Amanda wrote a sand note to early-rising beach combers.  It read:

“Please, do not walk on turtle crawl :)”

Ironically, Turtle crawled right over Amanda’s note!  Did she plan it?

I hope you enjoyed my story! Until next time….

Sincerely,
Amanda Noble
Sea Turtle Patrol Intern

We have 1 more Sea Turtle Patrol Intern to welcome to our family and introduce you to….Erin Dougherty!

I have a B.A. in Biological Sciences from Clemson University and a M.S. in Biology from Florida Atlantic University. I have been interested in turtles as long as I can remember, and I have been fortunate enough to work with them for several years. I assisted with research projects involving freshwater turtles as an undergraduate, and I participated in Mote Marine Laboratorys Sea Turtle Conservation and Research Internship in the summer of 2006. In graduate school, I studied swimming stability in green and loggerhead sea turtles. I also volunteered at the Loggerhead Marine Life Center in Juno Beach and had the opportunity to encounter leatherbacks while living in South Florida. I look forward to working at the GSTC and helping Georgia sea turtles.

Please join me in welcoming Erin to the Team!

Sincerely,
Stefanie Ouellette
Marine Field Programs Coordinator