We can ALL LIVE TOGETHER!
17/09/2012

Happy Birthday Mathilde!

On the morning of the 29th June 2012, at 03:45 in the morning, an untagged female Caretta caretta turtle crawled out from the sea in the totally protected nesting beach of Sekania to lay her nest. This turtle was never tagged before from the ARCHELON night survey team, so for the ARCHELON volunteers is a ʽneophyteʼ. Her carapace was 73,5cm long and she laid 130 eggs.




After successfully finishing her egg laying and covering her nest at 04:36, the Canadian volunteer Mathilde Girard-Robert, placed two new tags on the flippers of the turtle to follow her future life. This is a very important and very specific procedure that does not disturb the turtles while nesting and gives on the long-term valuable information for their winter migrations to Northern African coast or the Adriatic Sea and for their biology in the Mediterranean. At 04:48 the turtle returned to the sea after finishing her camouflage to protect her nest.


Any other night would be a usual night that the night survey team of ARCHELON is conducting the monitoring methodology from May to July, but this was Mathildeʼs 25th birthday. So for her birthday present, her friends adopted the turtle, the nest and 29 hatchlings of this nest to support her cause.
Mathildeʼs nest hatched successfully on the 11th of August 2012.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATHILDE, we wish you will always have such precious friends and support in everything you do in your life, and all your efforts lead to success!

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