Recovered Kemp’s turtle returning to USA

This video is called Saving The Endangered Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle: Episode I – Nesting.

Translated from Dutch news agency ANP:

Sea turtle Flip may return to the U.S.

25/06/12, 14:08

The rare marine turtle which washed up late last year on the beach of Monster may return to the United States to go back to the ocean there. The U.S. government has announced this to Sea Life Scheveningen.

Immediately, the aquarium has asked for an export license for transporting Flip to the U.S. When Flip was found on December 10, she was very weak and had multiple injuries. Also, she refused to eat. In the past six months she has recovered well, her injuries have healed, and her weight has more than doubled, according to Sea Life Scheveningen.

Flip, who still resides in quarantine, is a Kemp’s turtle. These are normally only found in the Gulf of Mexico. It is the smallest sea turtle species of all. It is also one of the most endangered marine turtles.

The application for an export license takes about one month. When the license will be there, then within a few weeks Flip will fly by plane to the U.S.

See also here.

Update: Flip returning.

Scientists tracking the dispersal of hatchling loggerhead turtles have resorted to the nail salon to help fit tiny tags to the endangered creatures: here.

ScienceDaily (June 28, 2012) — Researchers at the Hollings Marine Laboratory (HML) and four partner organizations have measured for the first time concentrations of 13 perfluoroalkyl compounds (PFCs) in five different endangered species of sea turtles. While PFC toxicology studies have not yet been conducted on turtles, the levels of the compounds seen in all five species approach the amounts known to cause adverse health effects in other animals: here.

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