Inventory of IOP Nest 31
Nest 31 was found below the spring tide line on July 9 by Jane Powers, Sue Googer & Debi Magee at 42nd Avenue. This was a crazy morning with so much going on including the turtle program, Sea Stroll and Learn, put on by the IOP Rec Center, three nests laid on IOP and one nest on Sullivan’s Island. So the Turtle Team was extremely busy on that very hot day. There were 134 eggs that were relocated to a low dune in the same location. The eggs incubated for 47 days. We thought today's inventory would be a rainy one with 100% chance of rain, but miraculously the rain stopped and we were able to get it done. We found 104 empty shells, 29 unhatched eggs, two dead hatchlings and 11 live ones who were healthy and more than ready to scramble into the ocean. We took paternity genetics DNA samples from the two dead ones. There was a dolphin just offshore and we hope he did not snack on any of the hatchlings that were released! Hatch Success was 77.6%.
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