BOCA RATON, Fla. \u2014 There are only two facilities in the entire world that study leatherback turtle hatchlings, and South Florida is home to one of them.<\/p>\n
Inside, there are pools upon pools upon pools, all filled with newborn sea turtles.<\/p>\n
The team at the Florida Atlantic University Marine Science Lab in Boca Raton provides groundbreaking research in understanding how turtles live and survive in the ocean. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe bring in different species of sea turtles, the loggerheads, the greens and the leatherbacks and we raise them usually anywhere from two to six months,\u201d said lab coordinator Emila Turla. <\/p>\n
Director Jeanette Wyneken has been studying these reptiles for 24 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to know what characteristics the population of turtles have that may be advantageous for species recovery, they are all either threatened or endangered,\u201d she said. \u201cOne of the things we never knew was that this species of turtle dives down pretty far, at least at this age, we know the big ones do but we didn\u2019t know the little guys are going down.\u201d <\/p>\n
Experts say the mysterious leatherbacks spend 70% of their lives in deep water.<\/p>\n
The research facility is using satellite tagging to answer questions about the turtles that have never been known, until now.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of our turtles went down to 330 feet on one breath, one little baby leatherback turtle,\u201d said Turia. \u201cAnd the turtles are typically going to about 230 feet deep.\u201d<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s what is happening in the nests on the beach that has these scientists focusing on the vulnerable leatherbacks that have declined by 90%,<\/p>\n
David Anderson works in tandem with the Gumbo Limbo Environmental Complex on one very important study.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy team and I survey all five miles of Boca Raton beaches for all the sea turtle nesting activity,\u201d he said. \u201cThe sex ratio study, to determine how many hatchlings are male and how many hatchlings are female from that particular nest, because they are temperature dependent to be male or female.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meaning if its cool in the sandy nests, the leatherbacks will be male, and if those nests are hot then the turtles will be female.<\/p>\n
Tje team\u2019s research over decades shows the heat is producing way too many females and not nearly enough males.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know in general its hot chicks cool dudes, but the hot part up here, that\u2019s easy, it\u2019s too hot to make anything but girls,\u201d said Wyneken. \u201cIf it gets too much hotter they\u2019re just dead so that\u2019s too hot to hatch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Climate change, a hotter planet, warming oceans, all of these symptoms are capable of wiping out the sensitive sea turtle population, but this turtle nesting season has seen a whopping 41 leatherback nests on Boca Raton beaches so far, which is double the annual average.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust because there\u2019s a lot of nest numbers doesn\u2019t mean everything\u2019s great, because the hatchlings still have a tremendous struggle to survive to adulthood, which would take them 20-25 years to do so,\u201d said Anderson. <\/p>\n
Only one in one thousand hatchlings will even survive, and this summer season has seen record breaking heat.<\/p>\n
Hatchlings also get confused by light pollution and piles of seaweed that trump the feverish work of tiny flippers.<\/p>\n
After the turtles grow to the size of a human hand, they take a boat ride offshore to be released into the gulf stream.<\/p>\n
Some will be equipped with satellite tags to continue the search for answers to help understand how to help in the sea turtle species survival.<\/p>\n
\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n
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