SARASOTA, Fla. — Two rare leatherback turtles have taken up residence right here in Sarasota. Two big nests prove it.
These vulnerable animals typically nest on the east coast. It’s a big find, especially since turtle nesting season is just eight days old.
Mote Marine Laboratory scientists are ecstatic.
“We’re are at the early stages of getting over the shock of it,” said Melissa Bernhard, a senior scientist at Mote.
Photos of the turtle’s tracks in the sand show these turtles are very large. Mote says the turtle that is nesting on Venice Beach is between 6 to 7 feet wide and weighs around 1,500 pounds
The nests are big, too. There is a second nest on Siesta Key and it’s nearly four times bigger than the typical loggerhead turtle nest seen on the west coast.
The turtles lay around 110 eggs and most will likely hatch in about two months.
The leatherback sea turtle is listed as endangered on the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
Scientists are baffled at what brought the turtle into the Gulf of Mexico.
Bernhard said, “It’s very exciting. We don’t know much about leatherback here because they’re not here much. We will do what we can to get as much data out of these nests as possible.”
The only other leatherback sea turtle nest documented on area beaches was back in 2001, but the eggs in that nest did not hatch.
Mote says its goal is to protect this nest, so these eggs go full term and the hatchlings have a chance to survive.
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