Just before 5 am this morning, LMC biologists were on their last run of the night when Jupiter was spotted digging her body pit. Jupiter was sampled and documented by researchers and crawled back into the sea just after sunrise. Jupiter is a very special turtle to us here at LMC; she was the first leatherback to be documented on Jupiter Beach, hence her name. Jupiter’s first encounter was on March 24, 2002 and researchers have seen her a total of 10 times: twice in 2006, three times in 2008, twice in 2010, once in 2012, and once this morning. We are thrilled that Jupiter is still returning to nest on our beaches after 14 years! The photo below shows Jupiter returning to the sea at sunrise.
Our biologists encountered one other leatherback earlier in their survey last night; this female was untagged so she was named “Clinton.” Clinton successfully laid a nest on south Juno Beach, despite a fishing line entanglement on one of her flippers. Biologists were able to remove some of the line without causing further damage. Fishing line entanglements can be avoided by properly disposing fishing gear and nets. You can visit LMC’s Conservation Blog (https://conservationlmc.wordpress.com/) for more tips and information about turtle-safe fishing, boating, and beach practices.