Until now it was unknown whether juvenile sea turtles were able to swim under their own power. (Photo credit: Alfonso González, flickr.com)
“Toddler” sea turtles appear to be active swimmers moving with a purpose, going against the previously held belief that they drifted with ocean currents.
A team of researchers tracked young Green Sea turtles and Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles using satellite telemetry as well as buoys to follow sea currents.
Comparing the models of ocean currents and the movement of the surface drifting buoys with the movement of the turtles, the researchers concluded that these young sea turtles were actively swimming.
Original research paper published in Current Biology on April 9, 2015.
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