12/22/11

Turtle Rescue Stories: X-Turtles United!

Each winter up to 150 cold-stunned sea turtles are rescued and brought to the Aquarium for rehabilitation so they can be released back into the wild. The Marine team chooses a naming theme for these turtles every year. This year's theme is comic book heroes and villains. In this post, Adam introduces some new patients.

Hi everyone! With this year's hero/villian naming theme, I thought it would be fun to make up a couple of "comic" stories for you. As well as give you an update on some of our turtles!


The Heroes


#8 Nightcrawler: Came in on November 7. Has been doing really good and is starting to fill out his/her shell. It's teleportation power is also coming in pretty handy as the turtle moves from one turtle lane to another (with the assistance of staff and volunteers of course!).




#11 Bishop: Another turtle that came in fairly early on is also doing well. Bishop does not have to travel through or pause time to realize that that these X-turtles will help get better. And that getting a free meal is the best way to recovery in the turtle hospital.





#17 Cyclops: You can see in the photo this turtle has some antibiotic ointment on the right eye. All though we do know that the eye is fully functional when the triple antibiotic ointment is applied it does limit the use of the eye. As the scarring heals this turtle will return to full vision.

All of these turtles need to get better soon as one of their arch villains is in the lane next to them!


The Villains


#29 The Juggernaut: It takes three volunteers to hold him!



Juggernaut is currently our only loggerhead sea turtle. This turtle has definitely been through some scrapes before getting to our hospital unit. (S)he has suffered some minor cracks on the plastron and has some lacerations and smaller cuts in the shoulder area as well as on the carapace. But, like the mighty Juggernaut, I have no fear this turtle will conquer those injuries and get back out to the ocean to wreck havoc on crabs and shellfish everywhere!

Now for the comic panels...


It is a tough job patrolling the waters against possible attack.



X-Turtles team up to drive off the mighty Loggernaut!



After Nightcrawler pounced on Juggernaut he and the X-turtles were able to fend him off!

For now...

But eventually they may need reinforcements. Fortunately another hero has joined the team!

Rescue team volunteer Diane is holding Colossus.

#39 Colossus: This one is our largest Kemp's ridley this stranding season weighing in at a whopping 4.75 kilograms (10.5 lbs).

Above you can "see" Diane behind the turtle. This turtle is so big that it actually fully blocks her.

Though this turtle is a little over ten pounds, its biggest problem is anorexia and thinness. A turtle this size should be closer to fifteen pounds. Colossus still hasn't eaten yet but we are working hard at getting him or her to start.

-Adam

Stay tuned for more turtle patient introductions ... Wolverine vs Sabretooth?

Learn more about the 2011 rescued turtles
The Aquarium's Marine Animal Rescue team is rehabilitating dozens of rescued sea turtles brought in by volunteers walking beaches along Cape Cod. These turtles will be treated until they are well enough for release into the wild, then they will be returned to the ocean in warmer waters. See photos of a recent release in this post. Caring for all the turtles is a big job, and any way you can help is appreciated.

All comic book images are from Marvel.com, click on each image to link to source. 
Posted by Adam at 3:00 PM 5 comments
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12/21/11

Update on Phoenix




It is with great regret that I have to let all of you know that our little turtle Phoenix did succumb to his/her cold-stun ailments.

We want to thank you all for your well wishes. This is definitely the hardest part of our job.

Fortunately the majority of the other turtles are doing well. We will give you an update soon.

-Adam


Learn more about the 2011 rescued turtles
The Aquarium's Marine Animal Rescue team is rehabilitating dozens of rescued sea turtles brought in by volunteers walking beaches along Cape Cod. These turtles will be treated until they are well enough for release into the wild, then they will be returned to the ocean in warmer waters. See photos of a recent release in this post. Caring for all the turtles is a big job, and any way you can help is appreciated.
Posted by Adam at 7:43 AM 0 comments
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12/14/11

Will Phoenix Rise From the Ashes?

This post is about a critical turtle.
Update. Sadly this turtle did not make it. 





Above left you can see our most critical patient to date: Pheonix. Lucy is trying to hear the heartbeat through the use of a fetal heart monitor. Above right: the Phoenix from the Jean Grey website.

In the comics after Jean Gray "died" she arose as the Phoenix. We have a turtle that when it arrived to us we thought the turtle was dead. After using an ultrasound to make sure the fate of the turtle we noticed it had a heart rate of ~2 beats per minute. We gave emergency meds including atropine to get the heart rate up and dopram to stimulate breathing.

Several times we thought we lost the turtle but it kept coming back.


We went through several more rounds of emergency medications then intubated the turtle and put it on a respirator inside of the ICU for the night.


 Above: Dr. Cavin monitoring the respirator to make sure the turtle was getting the breaths it needed.


The following morning the turtle was still with us, barely. Although the heart rate increased it still was not breathing under it's own power. However, the turtle has become more active defying all odds.


Above you can see Dr. Innis trying to find a heart rate using the ultrasound.


We still couldn't get the heart rate via doppler so we had to again use the ultrasound machine to see the contractions of the atria or ventricle.

Above: View of the ultrasound screen.


As I write this blog the turtle is still with us fighting hard! Heart rate is up to 8 beats per minute we occasionally see the turtle take a small breath. Unfortunately the blood work is still really bad and I don't want to get anyone's hopes up but maybe this could be our miracle turtle.


Above: Trying to get reaction from the turtle during this evening's swim.

Hopefully the turtle will continue to amaze us!


-Adam

Learn more about the 2011 rescued turtles
So far, the heroes and villains theme has also named turtles Nightcrawler, Jack O'Lantern, Rorchach and Doomsday. These turtles will be treated until they are well enough for release into the wild, then they will be returned to the ocean in warmer waters. See photos of a recent release in this post. Caring for all the turtles is a big job, and any way you can help is appreciated.
Posted by Adam at 3:12 PM 0 comments
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12/12/11

What's happening with the Cold-Stunned turtles?

We wanted to give you a quick update on some turtles:


Above: (L-R)Sarah, Carrie, Elspeth and Maury work diligently at trying to get the turtles to eat.

You can see in the above photo several volunteers/interns feeding our established turtles. So far we are still seeing slight anemia in Nightcrawler and Rorschach, which they have been treated for and our starting to resolve. Otherwise all of our turtles prior to last Thursday are eating and swimming great!


Above you can make out #22 swimming along with two other turtles that stranded on the same day as him/her 21 and 23.

Our turtles from Saturday who have yet to be named are doing better and swimming in 70F brackish water today. Maybe tomorrow they will get to be placed in a larger pool and possibly swim overnight.


Above: Hybrid the hybrid sea turtle swimming against the outflow pipe. Click on the link below to see the first turtle that took advantage of the pipe.


Hybrid is taking advantage of the outflow pipe to swim continuously and build up some muscle. Like one of our turtles from 2008 "Route" Hybrid has taken quite nicely to the underwater treadmill.



Above: Our first loggerhead of the season #29!

There is no mistaking that our large turtle friend above is definitely a full-blooded loggerhead turtle. We haven't named this turtle yet but we are thinking maybe Juggernaut or Thing.


Above: three of the seven turtles that came to the Animal Care Center yesterday.


In the corner #28 above is currently our most critical turtle from yesterday's group. The blood work this morning showed that the turtle was not breathing well overnight. Throughout the day the turtle has perked up. With the swimming and supplemental fluids hopefully this turtle will make it.


Above you can see one of our volunteers Dave watch over the first swim of the day for our turtles that are increasing to 60F!

We received two more turtle today from Wellfleet. One seems to be hanging in there the other is in critical condition. We will keep you updated.

-Adam
Learn more about the 2011 rescued turtles
So far, the heroes and villains theme has also named turtles Nightcrawler, Jack O'Lantern, Rorchach and Doomsday. These turtles will be treated until they are well enough for release into the wild, then they will be returned to the ocean in warmer waters. See photos of a recent release in this post. Caring for all the turtles is a big job, and any way you can help is appreciated.
Posted by Adam at 6:00 PM 1 comments
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12/10/11

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Turtle Season!

This time last year, we wrote with a large white marker the number 129 on a turtle's carapace, ending the 2010 intakes as this was the last live turtle to come to the Animal Care Center. This year, on the same date, it feels like turtle season is just beginning. We have had 7 new additions of Kemp's ridley sea turtles in the past few days, which of course is nothing compared to last year's numbers, but it definitely makes it feel like turtle season! The clinic is starting to bustle with activities, heart rates being detected by dopplers (see below photo), turtles swimming in kiddy pools, and turtle shuffling to various rooms to raise them just the right temperature each day.


So let me do a brief introduction to which turtles came through the door this week and how they are doing.



#16, above photos, stranded on Thursday. He is actually doing fairly well, although he came in with the lowest body temperature so far this season (48 degrees F). I won't be surprised if he is swimming in a big tank by tomorrow.




The above photo shows Mary Anne and me doing an eye exam on #17, who arrived Friday morning. #17 has not been opening his right eye very well and possibly has an injury. We began to treat this turtle with eye drops each day which should hopefully clear this up within the week.


The above two turtles are #18 (left) and #20 (right) who came in Friday afternoon. #18 had a very low glucose so he has been getting some special intravenous injections of Dextrose and very closely monitored swims.


Above, #17, 18, and 20 swim in their kiddy pool while volunteer Mary Anne monitors their progress and takes notes on their behavior.


The above photo shows the plastron of #21, who arrived today (Saturday). Notice the barnacles on the right side of his plastron? It's not unusual for barnacles to attach to cold stunned turtles as they float in the water.


It is also not unusual to see lots of algae grow on the turtles, as you can see on #23 above. This turtle had long brown algae on his carapace and head.


Saturday ended with another kiddy pool swim of the newbies for the day, #21, 22, and 23. We use ice packs and ice to cool the water to the right temperature since we will warm them up slowly over the next few days.

I wonder if turtle season was just delayed and this is the beginning, or maybe it will just be a low number of turtles this year (perhaps they had time to get out of Cape Cod Bay). It is hard to say, but we'll know soon enough! Stay tuned this week to see what happens!

~Kerry 

Learn more about the 2011 rescued turtles
So far, the heroes and villains theme has also named turtles Nightcrawler, Jack O'Lantern, Rorchach and Doomsday. These turtles will be treated until they are well enough for release into the wild, then they will be returned to the ocean in warmer waters. See photos of a recent release in this post. Caring for all the turtles is a big job, and any way you can help is appreciated.
Posted by Kerry at 8:02 PM 0 comments
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11/30/11

Hybrid the Hybrid!

Yesterday we received our eighth sea turtle of the 2011 cold-stun season. This turtle arrived at 65F from Eastham, MA. We were told the turtle was found trying to get back into the ocean and was able to be saved and brought to the Wellfleet Audubon.


We are definitely getting pretty original with our name of Hybrid for this sea turtle. Left is the turtle, right is Hybrid from the Spider-man series. Other turtles this season have been named Rorschah and Doomsday.

Wellfleet staff member Tempe holding Hybrid!

Tempe from Wellfleet brought the turtle up to us. It was very active on the ride up and during the exam.

Above Left: Intake exam. Looking into the eyes to make sure there are no abrasions or scratches. Above Right: We had already started removing the algae and sand from the carapace to look at scute counts. 

As we started our intake exam the coloration appeared to make this turtle a loggerhead. BUT... the head and neck just didn't seem right. So prior to getting a photo with all the mud and algae still on the carapace (top part of the shell) we started removing the epibiota to start counting scutes (scales)!

Photos showing how we determine species of a turtle if we aren't positive.


Why do we think this turtle is a hybrid?
In the photos above you can make out several odd characteristics. The photo on the left shows the first vertebral scute touching the nuchal and the 1st left and right marginal scutes. This is characteristic of the green sea turtle not loggerhead. On the right the scales between the turtle's eyes are called prefrontal scales. This turtle only has two of them. Only green sea turtles and flatbacks have two. Flatbacks are only found in the warm tropical waters around Australia so we can be sure it is not one of them.


Above left another photo of Hybrid from the marvel wikia page. Those abs of steel look like a turtles plastron and its scutes!

Above right you can almost make out the inframarginal scutes under the gloved hands of our volunteer Pat. The count on those could make this a green or Kemp's ridley species of sea turtle. You may also notice the barnacles on the plastron. We have been able to remove almost all of them.

Above: Two of my Tuesday volunteers, Pat and Mary, work to clean off our new turtle.

During the first turtle swim we were able to clean off most of the algal and mud cover on the carapace.

What is the turtle? Is it a loggeridley (loggerhead X Kemp's ridley, like this 2009 patient), a groggerhead (Green X loggerhead) or a gridley (green X Kemp's ridley)?

We will be sending genetics samples off to NOAA so they can speciate this turtle!





Today this turtle is in one of the bigger tanks and doing great!

-Adam

Learn more about the 2011 rescued turtles
So far, the heroes and villains theme has also named turtles Nightcrawler, Jack O'Lantern, Rorchach and Doomsday. These turtles will be treated until they are well enough for release into the wild, then they will be returned to the ocean in warmer waters. See photos of a recent release in this post. Caring for all the turtles is a big job, and any way you can help is appreciated.
Posted by Adam at 4:52 PM 1 comments
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