Hawksbill Turtles Adapt

Turtle Tidbit #6 reports the amazing discovery that the critically endangered Hawksbill Sea Turtle, thought to be nearly extinct in the eastern tropical Pacific, may not be in fact not so close to extinction after all.  Now that fact alone is newsworthy, but the reason behind that statement is what really excited me. Get this: Hawksbill Turtles moved to a new habitat!  Researcher Alexander R. Gaos says, "This is a unique behavior that represents a new life history paradigm for this species..."   And we are talking about a species that's been around for millions of years.  Imagine that!!


On September 1, 2011 ,Conservation International put out press release entitled Solving the Mystery of the Missing Hawksbills.  It described the amazing discovery that Hawksbill turtles have been found living in mangrove estuaries rather than their customary habitat of coral and rocky reefs.  The press release marked the day the original study was published in Biology Letters.

Conservation International also carried a wonderful blog post by Alexander R Gaos, lead author of this new Hawksbill research, in which Gaos conveys his excitement at the surprising discovery.

   

Click the link below to read the blog post:

Finding Hidden Hawksbills in the Eastern Pacific

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: 
Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Initiative (ICAPO), devoted to the preservation of Hawksbill turtles in the Eastern Pacific, Alexander R. Gaos - executive director
Hawksbill Sea Turtle, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fact sheet
Hawksbill Sea Turtle, Conservation International's web site

Hawksbill Sea Turtle, Wikipedia

Hawksbill Sea Turtles Not Extinct In Eastern Pacific (PHOTOS), Huffington Post, September 1, 2011.

Turtle Tidbits is a Truffles, Turtles & Tunes series that calls attention to news about turtles and tortoises.  Since the news items themselves are copyrighted, I will post just the link accompanied by a short introductory comment and some followup information.  To view all posts in the Turtle Tidbits series, click on its Topic Label in the navigation column on the right side of the screen.

© 2011, Linda Mason Hood
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