Are you feeling turtley awesome?
I sure am!
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Hot weather. Blissful waters. Baby turtles. What more could you want?!
*BEEEEEEEP!*
That’s the sound of my alarm going off, waking me up at 3:50am. Why so damn early you might ask? As I begrudgingly drag my feet out the door, down the stairs and head towards the ocean, I think to myself “wow… being tired really sucks”. I then grab the key and as I approach the hatchery to do my final nest check for the night, a sudden flash of lightning illuminates the entire sky, creating a magnificent forked canvas. “This ain’t so bad” I thought, as I let myself into the hatchery, smiling, and walk down to check the nests.
The procedure I was carrying out at this moment was to check if any hatchlings had emerged from their nest. And if there were any, I would have to ring one of the staff members, we would measure the hatchlings for their weight, shell length and width, then release them into the ocean.
1 hatchling! It’s just chilling inside the net we had made earlier in the week placed on top of the nest. Although barely surviving on a serious case of broken sleep, I just can’t stop the rush of excitement coursing through my body whenever I see one. Small, delicate, not to mention SO FREAKIN’ ADORABLE, I pick up the little guy or girl (I can’t tell) and place it in a bucket, ready to be measured. Back to the house to wake up an also sleep-deprived Bella, this cool British chick (who I swear is literally Hermione Granger reincarnated due to her devoted work-ethic and crazy hair), we pull out the scales and caliper, and measure the hatchling. I then offer to release it and let Bella go back to sleep. So along the shoreline I go, bucket holding the hatchling in hand, walking a couple hundred metres or so down the beach, a hazy luminescence radiating from a distant full moon, until I found a suitable place for release. I pick up the little creature, barely the size of half my palm, and gaze at it for a short while. As the odd flash of lightning forks across the sky, I think to myself “it’s just you and I little buddy… in this big big scary world”. It is at this moment that I feel how small I am in the universe, and I guess for the little guy, about to embark on the first stage of his life’s journey, he must really feel it too.
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A day in the life
There was no day that was ever the same while working as an intern for the Lang Tengah Turtle Watch (LTTW), located the South China Sea-side of Malaysia mainland. So forget that a daily routine even existed. Before I left Australia on this internship, I knew that I was going to abide by the turtles’ schedules, definitely not mine. Turtles appeared out of nowhere, whether it be early in the night, 3 in the morning or even sometimes during the day (not ideal really). So you really had to be alert and on the ball. The only routine-like procedures were relocating eggs into the hatcheries, working hut shifts and performing nest checks throughout the night on set shift times.
WTF is relocation and what exactly did you do working in a hut?!
Great question! So a massive part of volunteering for a sea turtle conservation project is relocating sea turtle eggs from their natural nests into the project’s hatcheries. The reason being that it is still legal in some parts of Malaysia (including this area) to sell turtle eggs to markets, where they are bought and consumed. Yes, consumed. I know, it’s a crazy thought, but what’s super bad about selling them to markets is that sea turtle numbers have been on the decline for many years due to over-exploitation, leaving many of the sea turtle species endangered! Yes, that word is underlined because it is what has triggered many projects such as LTTW to start-up in the first place to prevent extinction of the species. Along with other interns, I spent a great deal relocating eggs, familiarising myself with their shape, fragility and development. FYI, the eggs are shaped like a pong-pong ball and are definitely not as bouncy as one (I swear I didn’t test that out).
Part of being an intern at a sea turtle conservation project is also spreading awareness to the public. We were based on Tanjong Jara Resort, a 5-star paradise, where our office was funnily enough, in a hut, right on the beachfront. Not complaining! During those hours, I was able to interact with resort guests, filling their brains with information about sea turtles, why they’re so vulnerable and how they can help the project. Lang Tengah Turtle Watch is a non-for-profit organisation which persists with the ongoing support of donations and nest adoptions from resort guests and elsewhere, so understandably it was my duty to spread the word.
Wow, that’s kinda cool. What else?
Let’s see um…
I was lucky enough to witness mother turtles lay her eggs during the night. There’s nothing more captivating than a mother bringing new life into the world. Did you know a Green turtle mother can lay anywhere between 50-150 eggs?
- Mum’s nest, known as “Sez Portz” located in one of the hatcheries.
That’s a lot of babies! After this process, the relocation takes place, and once the eggs are carefully relocated in the hatchery and compacted with sand, the nest is up for adoption! I was able to purchase a nest during my time there, for my mum’s birthday. I’m still awaiting the news from LTTW on the progress of the development, so that’s something to look forward to!
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An intern’s worst nightmare
We had just finished sampling for the day in the research hatchery for Bill, a tall quirky fella from Melbourne who was looking at how moisture during incubation affected hatchling fitness for his Honours project, when Brogan, this loud and insane Canadian chick (who I swear made me laugh until I cried), and I went to begin watering the nests (adding moisture to the nest). We trotted down towards the hatchery when all of a sudden, Brogan screamed and leaped back from the hatchery. I felt a sudden panic myself as we both witnessed a number of hatchlings escaping the hatchery and crawling towards the ocean in BROAD DAYLIGHT. (They’re meant to emerge during the night to avoid exposure to predators, etc.). From here, it was as if someone pressed the fast-forward button, as I sprinted up to the house, shouted for everyone to run down to the hatchery before the little guys got away. We were all frantically picking up hatchlings like a child in an Easter egg hunt, placing them in tubs when we realised the key to the hatchery had disappeared. It was thrown somewhere in the sand during the initial moment of panic, and so jumping the hatchery fence, we all scrambled to collect the rest of the hatchlings before they escaped. It was a chaotic moment. Unfortunately our rescue efforts were not nearly enough, as a couple of dozen babies had escaped, but luckily to the team’s judgement, we saw little tracks running down towards the ocean, so fingers crossed they made it.
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Diving at Tenggol Island
Every 2nd Wednesday, we had a group day off. And boy oh boy did we need it. While being covered in sweat and sand 8-10 hours a day, mostly 7 days a week, it was plain silly to be anywhere near the beachfront on your day off. Why be above water when you could be submerged in it! The boat ride out to the island was fun but messy, and entertainment was always about while watching Brogan attempt to drink her coffee from a mug as the boat rocked all over the place. Coffee everywhere.
So one particular day off at Tenggol, Abraham, a cheeky, Kung-Fu fightin’ Malay dude who also studies at Monash but in Malaysia, Brogan and I went freediving among some of the most healthy coral reefs I’ve ever seen! Even better, we were able to witness a WHALESHARK!!! That’s a tick off the ol’ bucket list. From clownfish to groupers, moray eels to blue-spotted rays. I. Was. In. Heaven.
The trip consisted of two dives, with a huge buffet in between. Safe to say that diving after lunch wasn’t the most comfortable feeling with a stomach full of Malaysian cuisine. However nonetheless, I made every opportunity to get in the water, even if the visibility looked like a blank canvas.
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The Team
I mentioned a few already, but one of the parts that made this experience worthwhile was the people I lived and worked with. Some say that living and working with people turns out for the worst, and of course at times it was challenging trying to fit in “me time”, but not really when you had the group of people I was with.
When I initially arrived, I was greeted by Rifqah, this insanely driven and a tad bit crazy Malay chick; Miles, a highly-cultured, determined, jazz-lovin’ fella also from Melbourne; Brogan of course, and Emilie, your typical French sweetheart who has a passion for life. Along with the others I mentioned, just by getting to know these people, I knew instantly we were all going to get along. And I think for the most part, all being animal -lovers, we were able to work efficiently together with the turtles, utilising our skills to achieve great things for the project while also knowing when to have a good time.
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What did I get out of this experience?
Well I was actually sent to LTTW to not only be an intern, but to understand the data collected to use for my own research project at uni. I was lucky that I was able to get the opportunity to do so, thanks to my supervisor Richard. Throughout my time at LTTW, I gained experience in fieldwork, handling live animals and improved my skillset through communication, teamwork and general conservation procedures. One thing I found most interesting was Post Hatch Inspections, or PHIs. These were conducted a few days after a hatchling emergence, where the nest would be excavated for any empty shells as well as unsuccessful hatchings/emergences. Post-mortem examinations were then conducted on the unsuccessful eggs to see at which stage of development the embryo ceased (sorry if you can’t keep up with all this biology jargon!). Although a tad grim and quite smelly, I was able to see all the different stages of development of a sea turtle embryo with my own eyes rather than just glancing at it in a textbook. So yeah, I guess I learnt a bit about sea turtles during my time there. Feel free to ask me about them as I enjoy talking about ’em!
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Reflections
And as I sat there on the beach alone in the middle of night on my last night, not conducting a nest check, but rather absorbing the last bit of wind-swept saltiness from the ocean, listening to the claps of thunder, I thought to myself “damn, that was fun”. I also thought “damn, I hate Melbourne weather”, but let’s not let that ruin the moment…
Let’s just say that I feel grateful for the opportunity I had, especially with the people I spent it with. I guess now reality hits and so, it’s back to uni, work and living like it’s -450000 degrees. Bye bye turtles, see you again in the near future.
Ell xx
If you would like to know more about sea turtle conservation, or would like to support Lang Tengah Turtle Watch through donating or adopting a nest, visit www.langtengahturtlewatch.org.
Also if you got to this end of the post, congratulations, you sat through a lot of standard Ell-talk.
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a little extra ell 