Giant turtle swims the Pacific

A 233-pound turtle is traveling 22 miles per day to the eastern shore of Japan to lay her first clutch of eggs at what scientists believe is an ancient nesting site.

The female loggerhead turtle, tagged by a University of Arizona renewable natural resources graduate student in 1996, is expected to reach Japan by late-July or August. She has traveled 5,000 miles so far.

The UA student, Jay Nichols, has been charting the loggerhead turtle, named Adelita, with a satellite transmitter since her journey began after her release from the Baja, Mexico peninsula last August.

Nichols and biologists from the University of Florida speculate the loggerhead turtles originally migrate from their nesting sites in Japan to feed on the rich supply of crustaceans in the Eastern Pacific, with the female turtles eventually returning to J apan to lay their eggs.

If Adelita reaches Japan, she will help scientists determine the loggerhead turtles' migration pattern. Scientists want to know if a turtle raised in captivity will remember its nesting site and return to it to lay eggs.

Adelita was raised in captivity in Bahia de Los Angeles, where she was also released.

Adelita is equipped with a state-of-the-art Telonic ST-3 satellite transmitter, manufactured in Mesa.

Scientists are tracking her with the Global Positioning Satellite system, which is also used for weather prediction by the National Weather Service. The satellite is recording water temperature and behavioral information, along with the turtle's position, which is transmitted to Nichols.

The transmitters were provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to help in Adelita's tracking.

Cecil Schwalbe, assistant professor in renewable natural resources, said the satellite system enables scientists to study how often and deep Adelita dives to feed.

Nichols is in Baja this summer tagging more turtles. He and his colleagues hope Japanese researchers will pick up Adelita's trail and continue to monitor her.

Nichols has used an Internet web site to inform people about the migration since Adelita's departure from Mexico and has already received thousands of e-mail messages from school children from around the world.

The web site is www.azstarnet.com/~sonoran/turtle.html.