Name: Turtle Released: February 2006 Data Map

Biography: Turtle is a male manatee that was rescued as an orphan at Satellite Beach, Brevard County on 4/24/03. He was 104 cm in length and weighed only 55 lbs. Turtle was taken to SeaWorld of Florida and after 13 months he was transferred to Columbus Zoo in May 2004. Turtle received his name because he was originally housed in one of SeaWorld’s turtle rehabilitation tanks due to limited manatee rehabilitation tank space. Turtle was released on 2/20/06 at Blue Spring State Park with several other rehabilitated manatees. Turtle was 261 cm in length and weighed 995 lbs on the day of his release.

Field Notes:

3/1/06:
Turtle had been bottom resting like a good manatee in Blue Spring during the afternoon on 2/27/06 while we were obtaining our last few minutes of observation on another rehab manatee. From our boat we watched a manatee go by with another manatee grabbing and rolling behind....that manatee had a belt. We looked up and noticed that Turtle's tag was lodged between two large branches of a fallen tree. Upon recovery, it was noted the tether had been wrapped around the fallen tree branch and then the tag was lodged at the branch fork. Nice clean break of the tether. Later that afternoon, Turtle returned to the spring and was eventually retagged.

4/3/06:
Turtle recently traveled out of the Shell Creek area where he had been routinely observed with other manatees socializing and feeding. He returned to Blue Spring during the last cold period on 3/24/06 and is now in Snorty and Scarface's old stomping ground of Lake Woodruff.

5/11/06:
Turtle moved out of Lake Woodruff sometime after 5/1/06 and into the Aster area of the St. Johns River. Interestingly, this area was being sprayed for vegetation control when we were there on 5/1/06. A tag exchange was completed on Turtle on 5/8/06 while seven other animals socialized back and forth near our boat. Turtle was primarily on the outskirts of this activity but spent time stationed off our boat. As of yesterday 5/10/06, had Turtle moved into Lake George along the East side. It will be interesting where he will go from here.

6/6/06:
Turtle was captured on 05/23/06 for his first health assessment, three months after his release. He has been primarily in the Lake Dexter/Lake Woodruff area for the past month always with other animals. Turtle was milling with a mother/calf pair in Lake Dexter when first located. All animals came over to the tracking boat while we were adrift and stayed behind the boat until the approach of the capture boat. The mother/calf swam away but Turtle remained behind the tracking boat. The first net set was done around the tracking boat and we immediately left the net circle. Unfortunately, Turtle got out under the leads near the end of the net pull. He was captured on the second net set when he approached the capture boat. That will teach him to approach drifting boats.

Blood, morphometrics, ultrasound, weight and fecal were obtained. Dr. Mike Walsh from SeaWorld of Florida gave Turtle an overall condition of good, with a body score of 4. He lost 95 lbs or 10% of his weight since his release on 02/20/06 . His belly was round and his new scars which he had to have received between 05/08/06 and 05/15/06 were healing. Blood values obtained in the field did not raise any concerns but he did have an elevated lactate value indicative of muscle trauma. Additional blood values are pending.

All girth measurements were considered normal or above normal.
There was water in Turtle’s tag but since we did not have another tag immediately available that was guaranteed to work, we postponed the tag exchange until a later date. Due to weight loss in the peduncle area, we changed out his belt to one that could handle more adjustments later during the year. Turtle was considered to be in good shape and released back into Lake Dexter.

For the next eleven days, Turtle made large moves south and north and was noted to be traveling by himself. We do not see him by himself very often (OK twice since release) so it was not surprising he was doing a “search” travel for other animals. He traveled from Lake Dexter after his release into Lake Woodruff , south into St. Johns , south of Blue Springs for about five more miles and finally traveled north along St. Johns towards Lake Dexter . Round trip about 53 miles. On 05/30/06 , a tag exchange was completed for Turtle and he definitely was not as easy to approach as prior to the capture. Turtle settled back into Lake Dexter on 06/02/06 . Lets hope he found a “friend” or two.

7/6/06:
Turtle finally settled down in the Lake Dexter-Lake Woodruff area throughout June. He has been seen in close vicinity of other animals and feeding on a routine bases. Since we caught Turtle by encircling him while he was near out tracking boat, he doesn’t spend much time near our boat anymore. Funny how that behavior change happened.

10/19/06:
Turtle primarily used Lake Woodruff and Norris Dead River of the St. Johns River from June to August. On 9/5/06 Turtle traveled south of Blue Spring. He moved north to Shell Creek/Mud Lake around 9/26/06 then south to the area near Weikeva River on 10/12/06 . Yet another move north to the Shell Creek/Mud Lake area occurred on 10/16/06 . Turtle’s observed feeding rate has increased immensely over the past month. He has been difficult to track since he likes to go deep under vegetation from time to time. He has been seen with other manatees on a routine basis and shows great boat avoidance when the engine is running. But he still investigates anchored boats when encountered for several minutes.

11/10/06:
Turtle was captured on 11/09/06 for his second health assessment, 10 ½ months after his release. He has been moving back and forth in the St. Johns River between Mud Lake and Hontoon’s boat basin since mid October and has routinely been seen intensely feeding with other manatees during our visual observations. Turtle was with two other manatees shortly before the capture but was caught alone on the first net set just inside Mud Lake .
Blood, morphometrics, ultrasound, weight and fecal were obtained. Dr. Mike Walsh from SeaWorld of Florida gave Turtle an overall condition of good, with a body score of 4. Turtle had gained 30 lbs since his last health assessment on 05/23/06 . His belly was round and fecal looked normal. The series of scars he received in early May were completely healed and the skag scar was still healing. Blood values are pending.

Ultrasound readings showed slight decreases across the board but values obtained are still way above normal. All girth measurements were extremely close to the readings obtained during his first health assessment.
Turtle’s tag had received a prop cut to the float ring which will need to be repaired. His belt was in good shape and was slightly tightened. Turtle was considered to be in good shape and released back into Mud Lake.

11/11/06:
Turtle was captured on 11/09/06 for his second health assessment, 10 ½ months after his release. He has been moving back and forth in the St. Johns River between Mud Lake and Hontoon’s boat basin since mid October and has routinely been seen intensely feeding with other manatees during our visual observations. Turtle was with two other manatees shortly before the capture but was caught alone on the first net set just inside Mud Lake . Blood, morphometrics, ultrasound, weight and fecal were obtained. Dr. Mike Walsh from SeaWorld of Florida gave Turtle an overall condition of good, with a body score of 4. Turtle had gained 30 lbs since his last health assessment on 05/23/06 . His belly was round and fecal looked normal. The series of scars he received in early May were completely healed and the skag scar was still healing. Blood values are pending. Ultrasound readings showed slight decreases across the board but values obtained are still way above normal. All girth measurements were extremely close to the readings obtained during his first health assessment. Turtle’s tag had received a prop cut to the float ring which will need to be repaired. His belt was in good shape and was slightly tightened. Turtle was considered to be in good shape and released back into Mud Lake . Turtle traveled to south and was in Blue Spring on 11/11/06 …yeah Turtle!

2/25/07:
Moves in/out of Blue Spring even on cold days to feed either 1/2 mile north of the spring or five miles north to Mud Lake/Shell Creek area. Body condition similar to wild manatees in Blue Spring....body score 4.

3/37/07:
We found Turtle without a tag on 3/26/07 still very close to where his tag had come off due to vegetation entanglement. We were able to maintain visual of his location via tracking his VHF belt until the capture boat arrived. He was socializing with two other animals and an attempt was made to separate him from at least one of the animals. Unfortunately due to water clarity and the slight chop on the water, we were not able to maintain a visual. Turtle was soon relocated but he had joined up with seven animals. Water retagging attempts were made but due to water clarity and his awareness of a swimmer in the water, we were not able to get him retagged. The health assessment was called off due to the inability to capture him. If we can get him retagged, another final health assessment will be scheduled but reality is he has been difficult to approach via water and is almost always with other animals in poor visibility water with the occasional gator near by. Until we can obtain his final health assessment, Turtle will be considered an incomplete but he did wonderful during his year of adaptation. His use of the habitat over at least the past five months has mimicked wild manatee use. Our last visual of his body condition during late winter indicated he had a body score of a 4 and overall looked wonderful! So even though we don't have the numbers, we are still proud of him :)

9/18/07:
6/12/07 – 9/17/07:
Turtle was located with a large group of manatees along the south end of Lake Woodruff on 7/3/07 . He was socializing with the group and possibly feeding on coontail and hydrilla underwater vegetation. There was a report of a belted manatee in Blue Spring on 8/29/07 but it was an unconfirmed sighting. It could only have been either Stoneman or Turtle.

11/12/07:
Wayne Hartley reported seeing Turtle in the spring late last week. Since we were not able to get a final health assessment on Turtle at the end of last winter, we had to wait for him to turn up at a warm water source during his second winter out to consider him a success. We will be removing his belt at the next opportunity he is in the spring run and he will be free at last of all tagging equipment.


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