Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle Head Start Research Project: An Annual Report for Fiscal Year 1986

摘要

Kemp's ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempi), the most endangered of the sea turtles, is facing extinction. In 1986, fewer than 600 nested at the principal nesting beach near the village of Rancho Nuevo, Tamaulipas State, Mexico, bordering the western Gulf of Mexico. Since 1978, an international program has been aimed at restoring the Kemp's ridley sea turtle population. Among its goals is head starting the turtles to establish a new nesting colony at the Padre Island National Seashore near Corpus Christi, TX. Head starting has several phases, including incubating, 'imprinting' and hatching the eggs, 'imprinting' the hatchlings, rearing the hatchlings in captivity for one year or less, and tagging and releasing the turtles into the wild. The working hypothesis of the Kemp's ridley head start research project is that eggs and hatchlings become imprinted to their natal surroundings in such a way that the adults return to copulate and nest at the same location.