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Island-finding ability of marine turtles

journal contribution
posted on 2003-08-01, 00:00 authored by Graeme HaysGraeme Hays, S Akesson, A Broderick, F Glen, B Godley, F Papi, P Luschi
Green turtles (Chelonia mydas) swim from foraging grounds along the Brazilian coast to Ascension Island to nest, over 2200 km distant in the middle of the equatorial Atlantic. To test the hypothesis that turtles use wind-borne cues to locate Ascension Island we found turtles that had just completed nesting and then moved three individuals 50 km northwest (downwind) of the island and three individuals 50 km southeast (upwind). Their subsequent movements were tracked by satellite. Turtles released downwind returned to Ascension Island within 1, 2 and 4 days, respectively. By contrast, those released upwind had far more difficulty in relocating Ascension Island, two eventually returning after 10 and 27 days and the third heading back to Brazil after failing to find its way back to the island. These findings strongly support the hypothesis that wind-borne cues are used by turtles to locate Ascension Island.

History

Journal

Proceedings of the Royal Society B : biological sciences

Volume

270

Issue

Supplement 1

Publisher

Royal Society Publishing

Location

London, England

ISSN

0962-8452

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2003, Royal Society Publishing