Turtle heads for far-off nesting site

Arizona Summer Wildcat Photo Courtesy of www.turtles.org/azturtle.htm Adelita, a 223-pound loggerhead turtle swims from her start site of Santa Rosalillita to a nesting site on the northern shore of Japan, and is now approximately 150 miles from shore.

"It's quite a trip," said Jay Nichols, a graduate student in natural resources who is researching the migratory habits of the loggerhead turtle.

"It solidifies some ideas that have been tossed around for a little while," Nichols said.

Nichols tagged Adelita with a satellite transmitter in August 1996 and began charting her trans-Pacific course.

The turtles' habits have been a mystery to scientists, especially after a biologist genetically matched sea turtles in Japan with those found in Baja, Calif.

This specific species was not previously known to nest in Mexico, and prompted Nichols and other scientists to hypothesize that they nested in Japan and migrated to Mexico to feed off the rich supply of crustaceans in the Eastern Pacific.

Adelita has been traveling a migratory route at about 100 miles per week and is a little further north than scientists thought she would be, Nichols said.

He has been in contact with several Japanese biologists who are awaiting Adelita's arrival. Scientists will be able to better pin-point Adelita's location the closer she gets to shore.

"It's important we follow up with more research," Nichols said.

He has been posting his research on the Internet, along with communicating with students ranging from first grade to university level via e-mail.

"The educational value has been enormous," Nichols said, "far more than I ever thought it would be."

Thousands of schools are logging on to his web site, he said. Students ask Nichols questions and he responds by trying to lead them into the library to research the answers.

"One kid wanted to know if a shark ate the turtle, would the satellite track the shark," Nichols said.

Nichols explained to the fourth grader that the satellite transmitter only works when the turtle surfaces and the antenna from the transmitter emerges from the water.

If a shark ate the turtle, the transmitter would never resurface, so scientists would lose contact with Adelita.

More information on Adelita can be obtained on her web site, www.azstarnet.com/~sonoran/turtle.html.