Tracking Sea Turtles' First Hours with Nano-Tag

In their first few hours of life, sea turtles must battle hungry predators and dangerous waters before reaching the safe haven of ocean currents. While scientists have had just a general idea of how these vulnerable babies navigate the open water, for the first time a team has used special nano-tags to track the sea turtles' swims in more detail.

"We were able to track newly hatched turtles from the beach to the open ocean," Dr. Rebecca Scott, a researcher at the Geomar Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research in Kiel, Germany, told The News York Times. "We've always known they've been swept away by ocean currents, but this is the first time we've been in the sea with them."

Researchers were able to gain this insight thanks to an acoustic device called a nano-tag, which was developed back in 2012 by the Novia Scota-based company Vemco. Weighing a mere two-hundredths of an ounce, the gadget provides detailed records of the movement of baby sea turtles during their first hours.

Scott and her colleagues attached the tiny acoustic transmitters to 11 loggerhead hatchlings on the beach of Boavista, the easternmost of the Cape Verde islands. The information gathered showed that these determined turtles swam as far as nine miles to reach the open ocean. And with help from researchers who used their boat to scare off predators, 10 of the hatchlings survived the perilous journey - more than they expected. Only a few manage to make it usually, without interference.

Of the seven species of sea turtle, six are threatened or endangered. Better understanding their behavior and migration early on can help in conservation efforts for these populations.

Sea turtles are found in all warm and temperate waters throughout the world, the NOAA says, and migrate hundreds of miles between nesting and feeding grounds. But destruction of these habitats, vessel strikes and incidental capture by fishermen has led to their decline. As one of Earth's most ancient creatures - sea turtles have been around for 110 million years, since the time of the dinosaurs - protecting them is vital.

Since much of their life is spent in the water, not much is known about their behavior, but this new research may help to uncover the mystery of their movements, especially during their first journey out to sea.

The findings were published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.