Manager for Taronga Wildlife Hospital Linny Hall with a Loggerhead Turtle she has hand raised since it was a hatchling. Picture: Sam Ruttyn Source: The Sunday Telegraph
Disappearing for decades at a time, little is known about their early years, but one little loggerhead turtle could expose the secretive life of his endangered species.
Experts are hoping that the turtle, brought to Taronga Zoo’s Wildlife Hospital weighing only 60gm and with a fractured flipper believed to be caused by marine debris, will shed more light.
Expert care and a good diet has seen the turtle grow to the size of a large dinner plate, allowing it to be released back into its habitat. Experts are hoping by tracking it they can better study the species and learn what hazards the creatures come up against.
Two previous attempts to track the turtles have failed, let’s hope this time they are successful.
The mysterious creatures tend to disappear when young and re-appear up to 20 years later as an adult. Therefor, very little is known about the juvenile stages of the turtles, what happens when they leave and when they come back to breed; they call that the lost years.
Taronga Zoo Wildlife Hospital manager Libby Hall said. ”One of the turtles tracked last in 2010, from its release at Lord Howe Island, crossed the Tasman Sea and was feeding off the northern tip New Zealand when we lost the signal after 122 days.”
“The data we received was groundbreaking because for the first time it showed where these turtles go in the South Pacific.”
