The world according to me....

If you have spent time on a sea turtle nesting beach, you have seen a similar situation: a clutch deposited so close to the ocean that it is likely to be washed away or destroyed by high tides. Referred to as “doomed eggs” in the laboratory of my graduate school supervisor Nicholas Mrosovsky (FRSC), nests in this category were crucial in my research. I had always assumed that everyone called them doomed eggs. But when I first went to work with Projeto TAMAR in Brazil, I learned that a clutch laid too close to the high tide line there is called a ninho suicida, which means “suicide nest” in Portuguese. I immediately preferred this more visceral description. When I later worked in French Guiana (this photo was taken in Awala-Yalimapo beach), I decided to use the term nid suicidé (suicide nest) for clutches laid too close to the high tide line, rather than “nid condamné” (doomed nest). This was my vain attempt in establishing some sort of legacy there (and most likely unsuccessful).

In the meantime, I have tried to pin down the earliest published use of the adjective “doomed” for eggs laid too close to the high tide line. Interestingly, the earliest mention I have found so far is 1983, but I am still working on it…..