Manjula goes blogging...

This recent event deserved to be blogged in the annals of sea turtle history….

Jacques Fretey recently sent me an email, Cced to Laurent Kelle and Peter Pritchard, with the mysterious subject line of “2 Jacque Fretey.” In this email he proudly announced (English translation after French text):

"Lors de mon séjour a Ebodjé (Sud Cameroun) en janvier 2006, Christine la femme de Denis, l'un de nos écogardes, a accouché d'un bébé. C'est moi qui ai conduit tres vite notre infirmière aupres de Christine pour qu'elle l'aide à accoucher. Christine et Denis ont appelé ce bébé "mâle" : ... Jacques Fretey ! ! ! ! ! Etonnant, non ? Il y a donc maintenant (malheureusement pour toi !) 2 Jacques Fretey."

(English translation: During my stay in Ebodje in southern Cameroon in January 2006, Christine the wife of one of our ecoguards, Denis, went into labor. I rushed to fetch a nurse to help with the birth. Christine and Denis have called their baby boy…..Jacques Fretey!!! Astonishing, isn’t it? So now (unfortunately for you!) there are 2 Jacques Freteys!)

Here they are, the 2 Jacque Freteys:

Jacques received encouraging remarks from his colleagues:

Laurent Kelle: “at least this one is expected to be nice”

Peter Pritchard: “Mon dieu! The world is not ready for such a dangerous development. Can anything be done? I think there are legal mechanisms for changing a name in emergency situations like this. Perhaps we should have a conference. PCHP”

Not in the least disheartened, Jacques responded:
“Je pense au contraire que je vais engager une opération de clonage et de reproduction en chaine, afin d'envahir l'univers chélonologique de nombreux Jacques Fretey qui porteront partout la francophonie et mes bonnes paroles!"

(English translation : On the contrary, I think I will clone myself, in order to invade the sea turtle universe with many Jacques Freteys who will spread the French language and my wise words.)

Finally, I had to chime in and call for action:
Manjula: “oh la la! One Jacque Fretey is already a lot of work!! We need to convene an urgent meeting before he clones himself and takes over the globe with “francophonie” and his “bonnes paroles”!!

I think Jacques is still on talking terms with us....

Posted by Manjula Tiwari at 11:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One thing I really enjoy about Gabon (besides its sea turtles of course!) is the opportunity to meet researchers working on a variety of non-sea turtle topics: leopards, primates, elephants, amphibians, trees, whales, Pygmies, health and education, people and park issues ….. One such researcher whom I particularly enjoyed meeting, because I had a short opportunity to participate/assist in his humpback whale research in southern Gabon , was a British cetacean biologist, Tim Collins, who is affiliated with the Oman Whale and Dolphin Research Group and the Wildlife Conservation Society's whale projects

We were small and insignificant in the Atlantic ocean in our tiny zodiac

driven by a very competent Frenchman, François, who brilliantly coordinated Tim’s requirements and data collection needs, breaching/surfacing humpback whales all around, and boat handling.

It was thrilling to have mothers with calves surfacing beside the zodiac

and even more thrilling to watch these giant mammals breach next to you while Tim shot photographs or biopsy darts at them

Watching a whale breach a few meters from you, as many of you know, is astoundingly spectacular and gives one goose bumps. Just between you and me, the treacherous thought of working with whales flitted very briefly across my mind.... to spend the days admiring breaching whales just seemed so romantic...

Too bad turtles didn’t leap out of the water like whales….but then again, a turtle attempting a tail-breach would surely be embarrassingly funny rather than awe-inspiring….Anyway, these unholy thoughts about turtles occupied my mind until I described the experience to Mike James. Such a brilliant chap that one! He calmly informed me that leatherbacks have indeed been observed to do the turtle equivalent of a breach; it is described in an interesting little publication: Engbring, J., N. Idechong, C. Cook, G. Wiles, and R. Bauer. 1992. Observations on the defensive and aggressive behavior of the leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) at sea. Herpetological Review 3: 70-71.

There is a photo in the paper showing a fairly respectable "breach" by a leatherback—do take a look—you will be proud! And what more, Mike tells me that he observes similar surfacing behavior in leatherbacks in Nova Scotian waters where he works…amazing! It’s a sight I now dream to see….

Permission to use humpback whale breaching photo was obtained from Aimée Sanders, Mayumba National Park.

Posted by Manjula Tiwari at 03:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)