Fluffy
Bald Head Island 2003: Loggerhead Turtles
A project of Marine Turtle Research Group.
 click map for full-size version This transmitter terminated on 18th January 2004.
See Tracking FAQâs for possible reasons for transmitter failure.
We would like to extend special thanks to all our sponsors and donors!
|
Full-Size Map (36KB)
Zoom Map (15KB)
Species: Loggerhead
Life Stage: Adult
Gender: Female
Release Date: 2003-07-03 00:00:00
Release Location: Bald Head Island, North Carolina
Last Location: 2004-01-18 00:04:42
Adoptive Parents:
Imperial College Wye
Patrick Kennedy
Fall Creek Middle School Grade 6
Ken Conklin
Alexander Enyart
Rebecca Speckenbach
Laetitia Amiot
Ben Melluish
Jen Gebhart
Billie Pearson
Dashiell
Jim and Candy Dolen
Background
"Fluffy" was named by the Crumpler family of Bald Head Island. She was intercepted while laying a clutch of eggs on the 4th of July, 2003. A Sea Mammal Research Unit SLTDR was attached, making her the third adult female loggerhead to be deployed with a satellite transmitter in this project. After Fluffy returned to the water she appeared to remain close to the island, although we received very few locations. We started to hear from her again on the July 16th and she came back to nest on the night of the 17th/18th July. When she was on the beach, the BHIC interns were able to confirm that all was well with the unit and the attachment. Following nesting, "Fluffy" then moved slightly northeast of BHI before falling quiet again on the 21st July. We were slightly concerned when we had not heard from the transmitter in several days but we started receiving locations again on the 1st August in an area offshore from the North Carolina/Virginia border between Cape Hatteras and the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Fluffy remained feeding in that area for 18 weeks and only left to head south on the 6th December. She spent Christmas and New Year in transit and stopped on the 31st December some 100km north east of Cape Fear to forage some more! Her transmitter sent its last message on the 18th January, placing her some 100km East of Cape Fear.
Fluffy was the last turtle to leave her Northerly foraging site and traveled 178 miles at an average speed of 0.8 mph for 27 days to reach the Cape from her previous forage site at Duck, North Carolina. We have since discovered that Fluffys transmitter had only used 25% of its potential battery life at the time of transmitter failure. Therefore we think it is likely that Fluffy either dislodged or damaged her transmitter in some way, causing it to become incapable of sending messages. However, we have had great results from Fluffy in this study and have even more data in the form of dive profiles to analyze yet!
