Avoid Duplication

Return Address

You should also include a return address on the tag so anyone who observes the tag will know where to send the relevant information. Because turtles are long-lived, you may get information on turtles many years after they were tagged. Therefore, it is best to choose a return address that will be relatively permanent.

Tag Location

Another issue is where to tag on the turtle. For instance, most people place flipper tags on the front flippers, but occasionally workers place external tags on the rear flippers (in the case of leatherbacks and juvenile hard-shelled turtles in the USA). If a tag is placed in a nonstandard location, this may reduce the likelihood of observations elsewhere (and perhaps bias the analyses of tagging data). For PIT tags, it is important to realize that not all scanners can read all tags, and moreover not everyone will scan the entire turtle for the possible presence of a tag. The injection locations for PIT tags are variable, although specific recommendations for standard locations are provided on the handout sheet PITtagsheet2.pdf.