Photo by Karen Chen
Keeping a respectful distance from a huge mamma Green Turtle after a whole nights efforts. She lay two decoy nests before finally settling down to business. We could hear her panting from the effort, and the force with which she was digging the sand was painful.
If you ever get a chance to witness this, here’s a few pointers:
- Be patient, she’s gonna be there a long time. Bring a jumper, it’s likely to be in the middle of the night. That’s cold no matter where you are.
- Keep a safe distance, that sand is painful, plus if you disturb her, she won’t come back to the same beach to nest next time. Think of it as bad bedside manner in a hospital. And she always comes back to the same beach from which she was born, so don’t mess with that.
- Don’t use any torches. That’ll disorientate her. She’s relying on the moon or lack of it. Plus they don’t got good eyes anyway.
- Silence. Observe it.
- Under no circumstances ‘ride’ her on her way back to the sea, as they did in Terengganu, Malaysia, which, coincidentally, no longer has Sea Turtles nesting on it’s beaches.
Good morning balls
This morning I was woken up by the sounds of scampering feet on the roof of the staff accommodation at work. The mischievous long-tailed macaques were at it again.
I looked out the window as they jumped off the roof onto the mango tree, they turned to look at me, groggy eyed primate that I am, and then one scratched it’s balls.
Good morning to you too.
Finished work at 2am:
Another highlight of that night.
Student: “Hey guys, look over here, there’s a crab eating another crab!”
Biologists*assume the red-eyed reef crab is at it again*
But no, it was a delicate flower crab, picking at through the top of a carcass of a red-eyed reef crab, as if it was holding chop sticks!
Finished work at 2am
Last night, I worked late. Very late.
The turn of the night found us biologists on the seashore at an untimely low tide, under a blanket of stars, with 40 students all set for their survey.
The upside of the hideously long day of travelling and working until the wee hours of the morning was that at least we were on the seashore at night. Previous torch-lit seashore surveys have delivered a beautiful bounty for our geeky biologists, including catsharks, bamboo sharks, octopi, file clams, flat worms….pretty much anything you hope to see on the seashore.
Last night was special in it’s own right. Posts to follow…
Another photo from Dimas Cheng.
There was one tragic time, when diving with a group of students from one of my field trips around Soyak Island, Tioman, when we passed another group that signalled to me that they had seen a shark. A big one.
We got back on the boat, and their dive instructor confirmed it was an 8m Whale Shark. It could not, at any point on that dive been further than 50m from. Tragic for me. Mind-blowing for first-time dive students!
![My mate Rich and I geeking out over a Banded/Yellow lipped sea krait [Laticauda colubrina] touring our work place. Notice the distance kept from even its tail [note flat tail for swimming]. No risk taking with this chap.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lhum2wy8ES1qeigaco1_500.jpg)
My mate Rich and I geeking out over a Banded/Yellow lipped sea krait [Laticauda colubrina] touring our work place. Notice the distance kept from even its tail [note flat tail for swimming]. No risk taking with this chap.
Photo by Karen Chen
Keeping a respectful distance from a huge mamma Green Turtle after a whole nights efforts. She lay two decoy nests before finally settling down to business. We could hear her panting from the effort, and the force with which she was digging the sand was painful.
If you ever get a chance to witness this, here’s a few pointers:
- Be patient, she’s gonna be there a long time. Bring a jumper, it’s likely to be in the middle of the night. That’s cold no matter where you are.
- Keep a safe distance, that sand is painful, plus if you disturb her, she won’t come back to the same beach to nest next time. Think of it as bad bedside manner in a hospital. And she always comes back to the same beach from which she was born, so don’t mess with that.
- Don’t use any torches. That’ll disorientate her. She’s relying on the moon or lack of it. Plus they don’t got good eyes anyway.
- Silence. Observe it.
- Under no circumstances ‘ride’ her on her way back to the sea, as they did in Terengganu, Malaysia, which, coincidentally, no longer has Sea Turtles nesting on it’s beaches.
Ish, myself and Rich about to bury our first nest of Sea Turtle eggs at MBR Turtle Hatchery.
This is where I lived when I was working in Malaysia last year.
Photos courtesy of Mr. Curran.
