Georgia Sea Turtle Center

Hi All!

Well, one more semester over and passed! I am currently on my two week break inbetween semesters, and am spending it as a veterinary extern at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, located on Jekyll Island, GA. Since I am settling in for the evening and waiting out the effects of hurricane Faye, I thought I would write a little update...

The Georgia Sea Turtle Center (GSTC)is one of very few programs in the US that is dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of sea turtles. GSTC takes turtles that have stranded or have been found injured along the entirety of the East coast, and does everything they can to heal, rehabilitate, and release the individuals in their care. They also work with a variety of tortoises and terrapins.

My externship is focused on learning as much as I can in a short amount of time about the husbandry and medical care of the critters at the Center. Its an incredible place with tons of amazing animals, each with their unique personalities and stories. Below are a few photos of some of the critters I've had the priviledge to work with.

Charlotte, a green sea turtle at the center who wanted to eat the camera...

Wee little terrapin hatchling. Don't let this photo fool you... he's only about the size of a quarter!

Griffin, a loggerhead sea turtle at the Center.

Two dolphins out in the marshes of the Georgia Coast. I got to go out with a group of dolphin researchers for a day to watch them do skin biopsies and photo cataloging of the individual dolphins of the Golden Isles. We saw between 75 and 100 individuals during the 12 hours we were out on the water. The Georgia coast is BEAUTIFUL!!

Time flies!

I'm not sure how to even begin talking about the last few crazy months, so I'm just going to plug in a bunch of photos and explain! School is going well, I have finals next week for the completion of my third semester, and then I am off to an internship at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center for two weeks.

In my previous posts I mention that I have become a Research Assistant for the St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network. Nesting season is over for the leatherbacks (ended in July), which means I'm getting a bit more sleep! Now, however, the hatchlings are starting to emerge! The picture here was taken by Fran Pope (a volunteer with the program) and is of a leatherback hatchling. These tiny little kiddos get to be over 1000lbs!

We recently also put on Sea Turtle Camp for the children on the island. This is a picture taken by Sara Ramirez of Dr. Stewart going over turtle anatomy with a juvenile hawksbill that another volunteer and I caught just a few minutes earlier. This turtle was tagged, measured, and released after the kids got a chance to see their first "real turtle! "

Unfortunately, I'm still waiting on a few people for more photos from the leatherback season! So, for now, I'm just going to include some new pretty pictures of the island. Overall, everything down here is going well. I'm definitely missing home a lot, and am really looking forward to this break in Georgia (with two nights in Brooklyn with my mom!!) and then December, when I'll be back for almost 2 full weeks! Its hard to believe I've been living here for a year already! 1 1/2 more years to go...

Sydney LOVES her beach!

Green Vervet monkey taking a snack break by the side of the road.

This lovely little snowy egret was hit by a car. It came to stay with me for a little bit, and then was released.

This cow must have done something very good in past life...

Baby season on the Peninsula continues!!