(Cover photo by Sacha Specker)
Turbo is one of our recently-released released rehabilitated sea turtles. Turbo was released as part of a cohort off of the Cape Peninsula on 12 December 2022.
Turbo is a sub-adult green sea turtle, fitted with a satellite tracker tag sponsored by Greenfish. Before his release, we carefully attached the SPOT tag from Wildlife Computers to Turbo's carapace using steel putty, epoxy, fibreglass and an anti-fouling spray. Careful effort was made to ensure that the tag was perfectly attached and secure - but as time goes on, the tag is planned to fall off as Turbo sheds the outer layers of his shell during growth (just like your skin).
We're very excited to be able to track Turbo, as turtles of this young age aren't as well-studied as their older counterparts, so this could reveal information about their migration paths that are poorly understood!
Credit: Zandile Ndhlovu
20 December 2022
After his release, Turbo didn't waste time, immediately moving in a northerly direction, a trajectory he followed for three days. On Friday he veered a little more eastward, moving closer to the shore at the northern end of West Coast National Park. He clearly wants to explore this area a little bit, and he has gradually moved to the southern end of the park.
Over the past week, the tag sponsored by Greenfish has transmitted 21 times and he has covered a distance of 208km. That's an average speed of 1.4km/h- not too shabby! The water he was released into was about 20°C, but he's moved into cooled 17° degree water now.
The West Coast has been an area that many of our released turtles have gone to explore, it will be interesting to see whether Turbo decides to head further north along this coastline. Keep missioning Turbo, we are excited to see where you go!
Thank you Greenfish for making it possible to track Turbo and supporting this important research effort!
