This is a photo of a "false crawl" on Melbourne Beach, Florida. The sea turtle came out of the water during the night to lay eggs, but for some reason changed her mind and went back into the ocean without laying.
Sea turtles leave the security of the ocean and crawl up onto Florida beaches at night during the summer to dig a hole and lay their eggs.
Sometimes they crawl back to the water without digging a nest and without laying eggs. This is called a “false crawl.”
Scientists want to figure out why some turtles decide to return to the ocean without laying eggs, so they’ve installed some hidden cameras on a beach frequently used by egg-laying turtles. The cameras are the kind that can “see” in the dark without lights or flash.
Do the nighttime turtle walks held by various educational organizations interfere with the turtle nesting? Or is it something else.
Brevard County’s Environmentally Endangered Lands Program (EEL) has received an $8,380 grant, paid for by the funds raised by the sea turtle license plates sold to Florida drivers.
A summary of the data gathered during the 61 day monitoring will be presented as a short documentary in the Barrier Island Center’s auditorium.
Below is a screen capture of one of the images taken from the hidden cameras at night.
You can read about the details here in an article that appeared in Florida Today.
If the link above is expired, you can read the article on Jim Waymer’s blog here.
UPDATE May 9, 2012:
Below is a video showing the time-lapse photos taken during the study. Very cool.
