The Leatherback Project

Yes they do. The past week has been pretty stormy, yet we are starting to encounter more turtles each night than we have seen so far this season! During the past week we have surpassed 1,000 nests (including both leatherback and loggerhead turtles). Even with the nasty weather, the nighttime tagging team  has encountered 21…

Have you ever wondered how we measure the turtles we see? Our measurement of “shell length” is actually the curved carapace length (CCL) of the turtle. The carapace is the top (or back) part of a turtle’s shell. We measure the carapace using a soft measuring tape and we call this measurement the curved carapace…

We encountered our first three-peat (a female we’ve seen three times this season) turtle on April 25. Aussie, a female notably missing a large portion of her front right flipper, nested previously on April 6 and April 16. We are excited to have seen her three times already and are hoping to see her again…

We had two famous turtles nest last week. Kelly Clarkson nested on April 21st around 1 am. Recently, the singer expressed her dream of becoming a marine biologist in an interview; thus, this turtle was named after her. She measured 143 cm in shell length. Kelly Clarkson while she laid her clutch of eggs. Photo…

We had a few new girls this week. Kathmandu is one of our new turtles and was one of the first leatherbacks to nest in Jupiter this season. We now have two leatherback nests in Jupiter, just south of the inlet. Kathmandu was larger than average, measuring 161.4 cm in shell length. May was another…

It’s leatherback nesting season on Juno Beach! We have been patrolling nightly since April 1 and our first leatherback encounter of the season was on April 4 around 1:30 am. She was a new female who we named Hanna in honor of Jack Hanna who was in town with his film crew to document the…

It’s hatchling season on Juno Beach, which means our nights have gotten a little bit longer, and a whole lot cuter!  We’ve had some of our earliest leatherback nests emerge, and many more yet to go.  With hatchlings about this means we are now collecting data for the second half of our research project assessing…

We’ve had some busy, busy beaches out here!  Two hat-tricks in a week!  Our first leatherback hat-trick included two repeat nesters and a first encounter for this season.  Our busy night started off with the return of Hirschy.  We hadn’t encountered this girl since April.  She came up early and nested fairly quickly.  She still…

The sea turtle moms are really popping up like crazy on Juno Beach!  The loggerheads are here in full force and the green sea turtles are getting into the swing of nesting as well.  The leatherbacks are still here, finishing out their nesting season with a bang. This week we encountered a couple previously tagged…

We have had some busy, busy nights out on Juno Beach!  We’re in the historically peak leatherback nesting period, and once again the turtles are showing up. Our beach is currently hosting nesting leatherback, loggerhead, and green sea turtles.  It’s quite the treat for us to see three different species of sea turtles at night on our…