Palm Beach, FL. This morning on the beach there were new tracks of female turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs. Turtles nest every 2-3 years, usually returning to the same beach to nest after traveling hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles.
So how do they remember which beach (oh and it is most often the same beach where they hatched)? Well, sea turtles rank among the most impressive migratory species. Scientists are now tracking many turtles using satellites and GPS systems attached to the turtle’s shell.
One of the latest theories on navigation, is turtles use the angle and intensity of the earth’s magnetic field to determine longitude and latitude. Wow. I am not sure what that even means, except a turtle can apparently navigate anywhere in the oceans and still come back to its original nesting beach.
There are 7 species of sea turtles (we have 5 in Florida) and all are protected by the Endangered Species Act. And since only about 1 in 1,000 to 10,000 baby turtles make it to adulthood, I feel honored to have seen so many tracks in the sand as the sun came up over the Atlantic this morning. What a glorious day!