Party Crasher

This weekend some friends and I had a BBQ down on the beach near Kamakura. As we sat there digesting, this uninvited guest suddenly appeared and dragged herself right into the middle of our circle.
Awestruck, we stood and stared, but as she made for the Tiki torches, we jumped into action and moved everything a few yards away. Problem is, she seemed attracted to the lights and kept following us. Finally, some bright bulb suggested we douse the torches.
This done, "Nessie" (as one of the Japanese guests gleefully dubbed her) crawled up into a dune, dug for an hour, and laid about 70 eggs (couldn't tell exactly - it was dark and we kept our distance to avoid stressing her). Two hours after she had first made her appearance, she was gone - happily returning to whatever Octopus' Garden she had come from, or so we all hope.
After all the excitement was over, I woke up my landlord (one of the local fishermen) and told him about it. He hadn't seen an "umigamo" on the beach for over 50 years, although when he was a child they were pretty common.
I spent all Sunday telling and retelling the story to officials from the local Fisherman's Cooperative, Kanagawa Prefectural Wildlife Managment Agency, and several University researchers that suddenly showed up.
Sigh - and I'd hoped to get a tan and finish my book... :)

PS. The eggs have been protected with a fence and sign. Seems this is the first record in over 30 years for an egg laying by a Pacific Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta gigas) on Kuruwa Beach.
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/caretta/c._caretta$narrative.html

(BTW - the turtle is the one in front...:)

This message was edited Sunday, Aug 4th 12:22 PM

Lophophora

What super news - we hear nothing but where turtles are in danger of dying out and here's a new beginning. I do hope the eggs remain safe and enough babies return to the sea to return to lay their eggs in future years.

So do I gerdii -

But I'm pessimistic: the sign announces the presence of turtle eggs, and the site is not guarded. Although the fisherman consider sea turtles very lucky (a harbinger of long life and prosperity), fact is they harvested and ate the eggs until a few years back when the turtles were given protected status. And then there are the environmentally braindead daytrippers from the city ("I don't live here -I'll just leave my trash on the beach. The waves'll take it away...)

Well, nothing to do but hope and pray. I'll be spending the next few weekends sleeping in the sand no doubt...;)

That is great news - I hope a majority of the babies make it. That must have been awesome to watch.

What a wonderful thing to witness! How exciting! Aren't you just awestruck when something like this happens in your presence?
Please keep us posted. ;-)

wow! how wonderful! wow....

very neat thing to happen to you!!!

Once in a lifetime experience! Such magnificent creatures. Will certainly pary for the young.

Awesome! First time in 30 years!

That is so cool! That turtle is just enormous! Hope everything goes well and all the babies make it! It would sure be great if you could see some of the babies swim off into the ocean!

What a wonderful experience. Please keep us updated if you can.
What a pity that there is no better protection for the eggs. Difficult to know what else could be done though. If they weren't marked in any way they would also be very vulnerable.
All the best for them, hope they make it.

Weekend update.

The eggs are gone. The "experts" that I talked to decided that there was no way to protect the site, so they had a commercial aquarium (Seaworld Japanese-style) come and take the eggs for nursery hatching.

I should be happy, but... I've been to that Aquarium, and it's one of the typical animal gulags so common across Asia. Small, unkempt, and catering to the tourist trade. I fear "Nessie"'s kids will wind up swimming in a 200 gallon tank. Have notified WWF here, but they have so little pull, being considered, like Greenpeace, a "terrorist" organization by the general public.

:(

darn

Isn't it time respect for animal life is dinned into kids - everywhere! :-{

What an interesting once in a lifetime experience. It is a shame "nessies" babies are going to end up in the tanks, but I guess better than being eaten (?)

I hope you can keep tabs on them and let us know when they have hatched....maybe youcould even take a picture of them.
Is that you with Nessie in the Photo?

gerdii - I agree 100%!! A respect for other life forms (both animal and vegetable) taught early on usually translates into a respect for human life later on. I read somewhere that alot of serial killers started their careers as children - torturing animals. Don't know if it's true - read it on the Internet...

pebble - I suppose you're right about a higher survival rate for captive-reared babies - as long as it's done by professionals! I have serious doubts about the aquarium that took the eggs. I was raised in San Diego, where the Zoo and Wild Animal Park have made great strides in the artifical propagation, preservation, and even rehabilitation and re-establishment of numerous endangered species, and where education, not cheap thrills, is the raison d'être. So I'm used to that level of awareness. Unfortunately, the majority of zoos and aquariums over here are little more than money makers. The aquarium that took the turtle eggs doesn't even include Latin names on its specimen labels!

I've been talking to a professor of Ecosystem Studies at Tokyo University for the last few days. He heads the Sea Turtle Association of Japan, a non-profit conservation group of researchers. Since the Pacific Loggerhead is listed in the Washington Convention (CITES) we just may be able to make sure all Nessie's kids go free. We'll see...

I will be hoping that they do make it to freedom, I was just thinking that once they survive till hatched, (in captivity) that they would be set free, and they would have a higher survival rate if done in a protected environment. I am counting on you to make sure that the professor you have been in contact with will take this cause under his wing and make sure they are protected till they cam make it to freedom. You are playing an important role here, you should be proud of the strides you make....
Keep us updated on Nessie's kids.

Thanks for your encouragement pebble!!

I will most certainly keep y'all informed. I've got a burr on my b*** about this one....

Lo,if anyone can see this thing through, I think it is you!

have you gone to see the eggs? canyou take a photo of them and post them? and we can follow that way too....
ohhh and they wouldnt by any chance have a live cam hooked up so we can watc their progress? lol we were on a live cam kick a while back, watched eagles - the babies and the parents for at least a month, then the cam broke...or maybe the mama eagle got mad and pecked it to bits....

pebble - you think too well of me :)

A live cam might be a little tedious - the eggs take around 65 days to hatch...*G*

As for going to see the eggs, pictures, etc - still talking to the professor. Will let you know!

What a great party favor you experienced there. Certainly hope the eggs do well even though not in their own environment. Perhaps the keepers will be keen enough to realize how precious those eggs are and treat them with due respect. Hope the professor keeps you well posted throughout the process.

Well done Lophophora, at least there's a gleam of hope their for the brood/clutch. Please keep us in touch with how things are going - and GOOD LUCK! Do hope you win on this one.

Lophophora,
In 1972 I had the opportunity to participate in a turtle egg collecting trip to Surinam, South America. WE flew from Miami to Paramaribo. There was 5 men, from there we went by local fishing vessel to the mouth of the Maroni River. At that point we set up camp and for the next 6 weeks collected 62,000 turtle eggs working mostly at night over a 10 mile beach area. Most were called Green Turtles but we did get some other types. The eggs were transported by air to Grand Cayman island turtle farm. They had a good hatch of just over 61,000 and when a few weeks old released 12,200 to return to the wild. The trip started out to be 3 weeks but end up being 6 weeks. I have many memories of the big slow moving turtles comming out of the surf and digging then laying up to 200 eggs and returning to sea.
Your pix stirred up some good thoughts. Thanks
Greenw@@d

Loph, any news on this project? did any of the eggs survive?

come to think of it, I havent seen you post much....you must pretty busy these days.

**I just saw your update***
thanks :)

This message was edited Monday, Sep 30th 11:24 AM

Greenwood -
Sounds like a great trip - but a lot of hard work too: 12,400 eggs must have had your back aching!
Thanks for sharing the story - now I know I wasn't dreaming ;)

pebble- glad you found the update - and thanks for your remarks. [sigh] Yes, very busy. And I'd much rather be in Surinam...

:)

Lophophora
Yes a lot of work but very interesting. We were told to pack the eggs in styrofoam boxes with sand and a layer of nylon. The eggs stayed in there box until they started to hatch. The eggs are very rubbery for the first 12 hr. then get hard and will break easy. So it was important to get them packed ASAP. To help we had a small gas trail bike that was used as our mule but when the tide came in it would run us to high ground and the surf was at the jungle trees. To make things easier we cut jungle trails above high tide line with 2 small chain saws. When cutting one day we were attacked by honets, that stopped work for about 3 hr. till we could retrieve our saws. There was tarantula spiders in the trees that were very interesting to me but not so with my fellow workers. We had a lot of fun showing the young indian boys to make a kite, one nite we tied a small one cell flashlite to a kite tail and had them staring and amazed at the light in the sky. One day we showed them how to make a slingshot out of rubber medical tubing and had lots of fun shooting rocks on the beach. We also taught them to make hats from palm fronds. We all enjoyed working and playing with the indians. They have a very hard life with no electricity no stores they live off the land & sea. Live in grass huts 50 miles to the nearest road. They were very friendly and quick to learn. They transported all the turtle eggs off shore in dugout canoes with outriggers to a large steel hull shrimp boat for our return. Needless to say it was a great trip, a once in a life time.
Green@@d