About a search for sea turtle crawls and signs of nesting, as a volunteer beach walker for Sanibel/Captiva Conservation Foundation.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Turtle Nesting Statistics as of July 14, 2008
The nest statistics are out again, as of July 14, 2008, there are a total of 340 nests on Sanibel and Captiva. There have been 334 false crawls and 27 hatches so far. Things look better!
It isn't known for certain why the turtles make false crawls. But, they can tell by the tracks coming up the beach and simply turning back to the water without digging a nest. Or they may go as far as to dig the egg chamber and then not lay eggs. It could be that they are disturbed by lights,noise, obstacles or activity on the beach. It may be a problem with the sand not being the right consistency or moisture to keep the egg chamber from collapsing. Even if the turtle dug a nest, if it is a false crawl she will not throw sand back over to cover it.
2 comments:
Could you explain what a "false crawl" is? I'm trying to picture it...???
thanks -
Tink *~*~*
It isn't known for certain why the turtles make false crawls. But, they can tell by the tracks coming up the beach and simply turning back to the water without digging a nest. Or they may go as far as to dig the egg chamber and then not lay eggs. It could be that they are disturbed by lights,noise, obstacles or activity on the beach. It may be a problem with the sand not being the right consistency or moisture to keep the egg chamber from collapsing. Even if the turtle dug a nest, if it is a false crawl she will not throw sand back over to cover it.
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