Sea Turtle Guardians

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Issue

June 2012

Photographs by

Julie Bostian

The North Myrtle Beach Sea Turtle Patrol, pictured here in 2010, stands in front of one of the newly discovered nests.

An unhatched loggerhead egg is pictured next to a small spacer egg. Occasionally these smaller eggs are found in a nest and their purpose is unknown. They are not viable.

Occasionally a live hatchling is found in the nest during the inventory. These hatchlings are released on the sand near the water so they can begin their journey to the sea.

The babies usually appear after the sun goes down, as they can sense a drop in sand temperature. It is to their advantage to begin their trek at night, lessening the chance they will be seen by predators like ghost crabs and birds.

The green sea turtle occasionally washes on shore when they are diseased or sick. The NMBSTP will assist in getting these sick turtles to the Sea Turtle Hospital in Charleston.

Three full nights after a major emergence, the nest is dug up and the contents are inventoried to see what is in the nest, count the eggs, view an occasional live hatchling and get a feel for how deep and how wide the hole actually is. The empty, hatched eggsshells are separated from any unhatched eggs. A nest can have anywhere from 50 to 150 eggs. The public is invited to watch an inventory, held in the early evening.

In 2011, the North Myrtle Beach Sea Turtle Patrol located and protected 18 nests in the city limits, and three additional nests were found in Briarcliffe Acres.

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