Ahoy, Turtle Trackers!
Well, once again our turtle expert Dr. Ed Standora has sent us new data on the always-moving loggerheads. This new data is at the base of this report. As before, be sure to chart the movements of the turtles in this week's data and compare it to their movements last week. Do you notice any interesting changes in the path or direction of the turtles?
Last week we challenged you to figure out how deep the ocean was in the areas where the turtles appeared to be moving. Thanks to the classrooms that responded to the challenge--nice work! We have put their responses below. As you will see, the classrooms reached some interesting conclusions, which seem to indicate that the turtles have moved from shallower water into deeper water. Are their movements from shallow to deep water significant? What do you think? According to today's data, does the trend continue ?
Dr. Standora has also provided information to help us learn what loggerhead sea turtles eat. According to Dr. Standora, "Their diet does change with age. Young animals floating on sargassum mats (large rafts of sea plant) in the open ocean can't dive to feed ..." Turtles in shallower water, Dr. Standora says, "... feed primarily on crabs. Over 75% of total dry weight of feces was due to crabs. Less than 20% from mollusks. Of the crabs approximately 58% were spider crabs (Libinia sp.) and 40% rock crabs (Cancer sp.) ."
For next week, see if you can answer Challenge Question No. # 24 about the crabs which the loggerhead turtles eat as a major part of their diet:
"Where in the ocean do the spider and rock crabs make their habitat...or, to ask it another way, where does a loggerhead turtle have to look to find a crab dinner?"
Instructions on how to respond to this Challenge Question are found at the bottom of this report.
New Data:
Turtle # 09037
Feb. 17: 37.021N, 67.627W
Feb. 18: 36.962N, 67.483W
Feb. 19: 36.956N, 67.530W
Feb. 20: 36.968N,67.665W
Turtle #09038
Feb. 20: 37.787N, 46.280W
Turtle #09039
Feb. 17: 38.439N, 61.371W
Feb. 18: 38.641N, 61.100W
Feb. 19: 38.655N, 60.945W
Feb. 20: 38.717N, 60.832W
Turtle #11462
Feb. 17: 37.984N, 67.175W
Feb. 18: 38.372N, 65.685W
Feb. 20: 39.204N, 62.416W
Feb. 20: 39.419N, 62.102W
Responses to Challenge Question No. 10:
From: ONTARIO
"We used the National Geographic map of the Atlantic ocean,
we think that this information is fairly accurate."
9037 Jan 19 -2450'
9037 Feb 6 -16350'
9038 Jan 19 -9800'
9038 Feb 6 -14800'
9039 Jan 19 -11450'
9039 Feb 6 -2450'
11462 Jan 20 -9800'
11462 Feb 6 -2450'
Sincerly Rose Harrison, Ashley Jones, Steph Prentice Scott Young Public School (syoung@web.apc.org)
From: FOSSTON HIGH SCHOOL
"Some of my seventh graders (Robin Goldsmith, Sonya Troxel,
Mike Schmit, Angie Scott and Nicole Sundbom) went to the
library and tried to determine how deep the water was on the
days listed. This is what they found:
Turtle #9037 went from about 321 ft on Jan 19th to 2625 ft on Feb. 06.
Turtle #9038 went from about 943 ft on Jan. 19th to 2743 ft. on Feb. 06
Turtle #9039 went from about 2658 ft on Jan. 19th to 2498 ft. on Feb. 06
Turtle #11462 went from 1244ft on Jan, 19th to 2561 on Feb. 06
In looking at the map it looks like they were moving from shallow water along the continental shelf to deeper water in the Atlantic, except for turtle #11462 which may have made it to deeper water sooner."
Margaret Menzies
Science Teacher (rjohnso@informns.k12.mn.us)
From: ERRICK ROAD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
"We have discovered that the turtles are about the same distance
north but they're spread out in the Atlantic.The turtles were all
in 200-6000 meters ocean depth. "
How to Respond to Journey North Challenge Question # 24:
1. Address an e-mail message to: jn-challenge@learner.org
2. In the Subject Line of the message write: Challenge Question # 24.
3. In the body of the message, give your school's name and location and answer the question!
We'll share your ideas and those of other students in future reports. You can also see students'answers to Challenge Questions on Journey North's WWW site.
The Next Loggerhead Sea Turtle Update Will Be Posted on March 13, 1996
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