Eden goes back to sea!

Friday 23rd December......... after over 6 months at the Wildlife Conservation & Rehabilitation Centre... the team introduces Eden back into the big ocean.

MCSS staff sees Eden off...

Sad to see him leave ....but happy that he is back is his natural habitat and healthy....

and Eden is off....

after just a few minutes in the open sea, Eden was observed feeding on some algae and he was swimming happily around readjusting to his natural habitat.

(Me)Vanessa says a final goodbye

The team members kept a close eye on Eden for some time to observe his behavior back at sea

Alex and Vanessa keeping an eye on Eden

ok..... I admit it... one of the reasons I got in the water was so I could shed some tears privately.... but Rebecca spotted me and sneaked a picture!

It is totally normal to feel emotional after caring for Eden for over 6 months and then releasing him not knowing how things will turn out for him...but I sure hope he keeps safe and makes it through a good long life!

Someone was a bit emotional!

The new team member...Lessi..

Alessia (nicknamed Lessi)

Hi there! My name is Alessia Lavigne, and I am new to the MCSS team. I have just recently finished my A-levels and have a passion for nature and conservation and would love to share my thoughts with you thus far.

My first few weeks of work was quite an exciting experience ranging from nesting sea turtles under the hot sun, to terrapin hunting in the vast wetlands of Banyan Tree Hotel. However, one of the main highlights of my MCSS adventure so far was that of rescuing 91 baby hawksbill turtles!

These turtles probably hatched during the night; the lights from the villa disoriented the hatchlings and caused them to travel up instead of down the beach. It was not until the afternoon that we received a call about sightings of a few hatchlings near the villa.

To our great surprise, many more were under the villa. Due to being out of water for so long, the poor things were weak, shriveled and exhausted. Therefore, we temporarily placed them in a pool to revitalize them as we continued our search. As we pulled some from crab holes, some from debris, and some from other nooks and crannies, before we knew it we had 91 hatchlings swimming cheerfully in the pool.

Re-hydrated & ready to head off 

Releasing the hatchlings

As sweet as they were paddling in the pool, their rightful quest lies in the arms of the ocean. It was time to set them on their journey. After collecting data about their nest and numbers, we released our new friends off the beach of Anse Intendance where it is important for them to make their own way into the sea and not to be disturbed or picked up by people. It was a sight to behold.

Wish me luck!

I admire and respect the people and colleagues I meet every day through MCSS who share the same mission to protect nature and make a difference in this world. I feel privileged to have become a part of this team and look forward for what else this career has yet to unravel.

Turtle nesting season update by Annabelle

The patrols days for the nesting turtle beaches are quite busy lately as we are now finding a lot of tracks, new nests and have more encounters. We also noticed that the first nests of the season are actually hatching and we had a few opportunities to dig the nests that already hatched in order to collect data for our database and learn more about sea turtles hatchlings behavior. 

Egg clutch survival data collection

We dug a nest last Monday that was of a great interest with a lot of information. The turtle nested on September 18^th  and we can tell that the hatchlings came out 65 days later. Unfortunately we found dead hatchlings, but also intact eggs with several kinds of embryos, black, grey and white, depending of the maturation stage, and of course rotten eggs as well as eggs predated by crabs. Luckily about 135 young turtles managed to go out of the nest and hopefully went into the ocean!!  

A Black embryo

A White embryo

Another nice event was to encounter twice the same turtle, the same day, on 2 different beaches: in the morning on one beach, that she left without nesting and in the afternoon on an other one where she layed her eggs: Thanks to the photo identification software! Nina and Michael, who are volunteers from Germany, joined us last week, and were of great help during these days. They took awesome pictures and videos of our everyday work as well as for the turtle identification. Isabella and Keith, students from the Seychelles Maritime School, helped us as well: Keith especially enjoyed staying for 2 hours with a nesting turtle on a sunny beach!! Isabella was strongly interested in collecting data from a hatched nest! Thanks to the team!!

Hawksbill turtle exiting the beach

Kids from Ecole Francaise share their personal experiences from visiting the centre.....

This is a long one.... but very interesting to read through some personal experiences the kids wrote and some of them are in French..... Happy reading!!

On Tuesday, Nov.15th, the class of CM1 went to the MCSS to learn about marine turtles. First Vanessa introduced us to Chichi and Eden in the rehabilitation tanks. The quality work of the team will enable Eden , struck by a propeller, to recover and to be released in the ocean, very soon. Then, at the information center, we saw bones and eggs. After that Johnny took us to the wetland to observe and identify birds. Back to the center, we watched a complete presentation on marine turtles with Chloé. In Seychelles, we find many green and hawksbill species.

   

Later on, we went to the beach with Chloé and Johnny to search for tracks and turtle nests. Oh ! Surprise ! Here is one ! And another one ! We found 2 ! Annabelle explained that sometimes, we have to move the nests up the beach so that the eggs don't get drowned. What an interesting and amazing day ! Warm thanks to MCSS team from the CM1at EFS ! 




Petits articles écrits par les élèves de CE2 de l’Ecole Française des Seychelles à destination du blog de MCSS suite à notre sortie scolaire au Conservation Center du Banyan Tree le jeudi 17 novembre.

I loved it when Johnny showed us the Black Mud Turtle, the Yellow Bellied Mud Turtle, Eden and E.T. I liked Eden the most. Clement Carofano. CE2

I liked the two turtles, Eden and E.T but I’m sorry that some of the turtles died. I also saw the Grey Heron, the African Snail.  A big thank you to Johnny, Chloé and Annabelle.

I wish you all the best and I wish that I could help you.  Elynndra Hoareau. CE2

We went to see the different turtles like the Black Mud Turtle and the Yellow Bellied Mud Turtle. We also saw birds like the Chinese Bitern and the Madagascar Fody. The first bird we saw was the Grey Heron.  Ahillia Ah-kon. CE2

I loved it when Johnny showed us the Black Mud Turtle and the Yellow Bellied Mud Turtle and how to catch turtles in the traps. I had lots of fun exploring with Johnny, looking for turtle trails on the beach.

Thank you all so very much. Melle  Payet. CE2

I liked the Grey Heron, the Turtle Dove and the Madagascar Fody. I liked seeing the Grey Heron flying away. I had lots of fun with Johnny. Thank you. Azarelle Monthy.

Thank you Johnny for explaining so many things to us on our visit at Banyan Tree. I saw turtles and found birds in the trees. I liked it when Johnny took out the trap because there was fish in there and not turtles. That was funny.  Livia Dugasse. CE2

I enjoyed my visit at Banyan Tree but I wanted to see many more animals and birds there like the Seychelles Tree Frog and the Seychelles Fruit bat.

Thank you for everything. Axel Monthy. CE2.

I learned that the turtles can lay 300 or 400 eggs and the hatch in 65 days. I saw different kinds of birds like the Turtle Dove and thee Barred Ground Dove. Thank you Johnny for explaining everything so well to us. A big thank you also to Chloé and Annabelle. Kellisha Moise. CE2.

I liked the visit at Banyan Tree especially when we went on the beach to see if we could find trails of turtles in the sand. Thank you! Kiyana Bourlaisze. CE2.

Cette journée était incroyable, j’ai vu des choses que je n’avais jamais vues auparavant et j’ai appris plein de choses sur les tortues vertes, les tortues luths, à dos plats et les tortues imbriquées (comme Eden). Nous avons aussi vu différents nids d’oiseaux et des oiseaux comme des hérons, des oiseaux mouches et des Chinese Bitern. Nous avons vu des nids de tortues et des traces de tortues imbriquées. Nous avons mangé sur la plage et les garçons ont fait un château de sable. Ensuite nous avons fait une photo tous ensemble.  Adèle G-L.

Moi j’ai aimé quand Eden a nagé et aussi j’ai aimé quand on est allé à la plage. Après j’ai aimé lorsque j’ai aperçu une tortue par la fenêtre quand on était dans le bus et j’ai vu aussi une chauve-souris. Merci à tous. Yanick B.

Moi j’ai adoré quand on est allé à la plage avec Johnny, Annabelle et Chloé pour aller voir les œufs de tortue. Aaron D.

J’ai adoré quand on est allé sur la plage voir les tortues surtout Eden. J’ai aussi bien aimé voir le Grey Heron. Le pique-nique était très sympa et nous avons vu les traces des tortues imbriquées sur le sable. Raphael a vu un Mangrove Crab. Luc B.

Bonjour, j’ai fait une sortie au Banyan Tree avec ma classe, j’ai vu des différentes tortues et aussi une tortue qui s’appelait Eden qui m’a beaucoup plu. Il y avait aussi Johnny une personne qui nous a beaucoup appris et montré de différentes choses tout comme Chloé aussi, et j’ai retenu ce qu’elle nous a dit : qu’il y avait sept espèces de tortues marines dont la tortue imbriquée et la tortue verte. Et enfin il y avait Annabelle la personne sans qui nous n’aurions pas pu faire la sortie. Narwad A.

On a vu trois tortues dont une qui s’appelait Eden. Johnny nous a expliqué des choses sur les tortues. Sur la plage on a vu des œufs que Annabelle Johnny et Chloé ont couverts avec du sable. Merci. Précilia O.

J’ai vu des serpents, des tortues et des crabes et à la plage j’ai fait une maison pour les tortues.  Koka M.

J’ai aimé Eden il est trop mimi mais je n’ai pas aimé que Eden soit seul mais sinon tout était bien. Pourquoi les tortues se cachaient-elles sous les algues et pourquoi s’en servaient-elles ? Merci beaucoup Johnny Annabelle et Chloé pour cette très belle journée. Iris D.

Lors de ma visite à MCSS j’ai appris qu’il y avait deux sortes de tortues aux Seychelles, la tortue verte et la tortue imbriquée. On a appris à reconnaître les traces des tortues. La tortue verte se déplace avec les deux nageoires en même temps mais la tortue imbriquée se déplace une nageoire après l’autre. On a vu une tortue imbriquée qui s’appelle Eden parce qu’ils l’ont trouvé à Eden Island. Merci Chloé, Johnny et Annabelle. Maïa A.

Bonjour Johnny, Annabelle et Chloé, les tortues marines étaient jolies mais mes préférées étaient E.T et Eden. Michel S.

J’ai aimé le Banyan Tree et j’ai vu le Mangrove Crab et les oiseaux : un Moorhen, un Chinese Bitern et un Grey Heron et aussi une Yellow Bellied Mud Turtle. Raphael T.

J’ai aimé les poissons et les toutes petites tortues et tous les oiseaux que je n’ai pas vus mais à la plage j’ai ramassé des coquillages et j’ai beaucoup aimé lorsqu’on a fait le château de sable. Matvey Y.

Merci mille fois pour cette visite des tortues au Banyan Tree j’ai appris beaucoup de choses sur les tortues marines comme les tortues vertes, les tortues luths et les tortues à dos plat et j’ai aimé aussi lorsqu’on est parti sur la plage on a vu trois ou quatre nids de tortues et on a vu des belles sortes d’oiseaux comme le héron, la tourterelle ; on a vu aussi des chauves-souris, des escargots, un lézard, un canard et des poissons. C’était marrant lorsque Johnny a sorti la cage de l’eau et qu’il y avait un poisson dedans. Eden était marrante et E.T dans le jacuzzi.

Merci à Annabelle, Chloé et Johnny. Mahé G.

J’ai aimé notre journée parce que j’aime bien les tortues et aussi les oiseaux et ce que j’ai le plus aimé c’est la tortue imbriquée avec la façon dont elle se déplace et sa couleur. L’oiseau que j’ai le plus aimé c’est le Chinese Bitern et Johnny nous a dit que le Chinese Bitern avait très peur des humains. Ensuite nous sommes partis à la plage pour voir les traces des tortues et nous avons vu les traces de la tortue imbriquée mais elle n’avait pas pondu d’œufs. Après nous sommes allés déjeuner et nous avons fabriqué une maison pour les tortues et un château de sable, j’ai ramassé beaucoup de coquillages et Iris m’a aidé. Enfin on est reparti à l’école. Tooshav S.

and some beautiful drawings from the kids............

 

Chloe finally experiences the south mahe projects.....

Hey there,

I left my corals of Cerf Island to join the team of the Wildife Conservation and Rehabilitation Center in the South of Mahé for two weeks. During all my time with MCSS, I had never been there yet. I was very curious to see the work conducted there, especially the work related to the seaturtles as I never had the opportunity to study these animals.  As it is currently the nesting season of the marine turtles,  I assisted Vanessa in her patrols along the beaches of the South. The season is quiet though, regarding the previous ones. However, we still found some tracks, nests and encountered turtles. It was an amazing experience to see these huge and magnificient animals coming out from the sea to lay their eggs. I felt very lucky… With Vanessa, I learned the characteristics of the turtle tracks and to determine to which species it belongs, but also to recognize signs of nesting and the nest itself.

A nesting turtle

restraining a turtle for data collection

The second week, we welcomed two classes from the Ecole Française des Seychelles (French school of Seychelles) at the center. Vanessa gave me the opportunity to give a presentation in french to the classes about marine turtles. The children were very interested and curious, and I felt very happy to pass on some knowledge.  Maybe some of them will become marine biologists, who knows ! If not I hope, they will raise awareness around them about the protection of marine ecosytems.

Now, it’s the time for me to go back on Cerf with Savi to continue to take care of our brand new coral nurseries and artificial reefs ! Next time, hopefully, I’ll return in the South to see the hatchlings and wish them good luck ! Thanks to all the team members to have welcomed me here !

Coral yours,

Chloe

During the presentation

The maritime students share their experience so far

For our first day of work attachment at MCSS, we had a familiarization with the staff and the centre itself. We started the day with a turtle patrol on nine different beaches and also got the chance to see a turtle at Anse Corail, it was digging its hole for it to nest but unfortunately the area wasn’t suitable due to Coconut roots in the ground and the turtle went back to sea. Before it got back in the water, we measured its shell and took pictures of both sides of its face for identification.

happy to be observing a turtle!

monitoring the beach

Back at the centre we x-rayed three female terrapins to see if there are no eggs inside, then we measured and weighed one, Celeste painted it for identification. Pictures of the plastron and shell were taken for identification, we had to look through the system to see if it had been caught before and it did, its name is SATAN.

During the course of the week we learned many things, we fed Eden the turtle, cleaned its 

tank and doing trips to the beach to get sea water to fill up its tank. We learned about trapping, a method used to catch terrapins using mackerel as bait, we set them up in different wetland areas. We also cleaned the terrapin’s tanks were we keep them for a while when we catch them, before releasing them again back where they were found.

We also did some bird survey and more turtle patrols; we had a turtle at intendance beach Thursday morning. It had already laid its eggs when we got there and it was in its covering stage, we measured the tracks and also the turtle. We saw that it had been tagged and we recorded it but we took pictures to identify it, it was very exciting.

restraining for measurements and ID pictures

Following the turtle project leader Vanessa

Terrapin Bloom

At the end of September 2016 we got a call from a Lady saying that she found a terrapin on the beach!! Which we found weird because they are usually supposed to be in wetlands, so Jonatan my colleague and I went to Anse Boileau to pick up the terrapin at the lady’s place, as we got there we noticed that it was a yellow bellied terrapin, a critically endangered species, we were so happy about that. Now we have the terrapin here with us at the Wildlife Conservavtion & Rehabilitation Center for observation. So far the yellow bellied terrapin is doing fine, we even named it Viki!

Myself (Rebecca) & Jonatan.... selfie time!

Introducing Viki!

Lately in the South we have been intensifying our terrapin tracking by putting 20 traps in the wetlands instead of 3 like we used to do. So far it has been some successful as well as tiring couple weeks since we have been getting a lot more terrapins than usual. Great news is that we have been getting about 9 Yellow Bellied terrapin, which they are usually rare to find and catch. Upon capture,data is collected from each individual then they are released back at the capture site if they are observed to be healthy.

                                              

Can you spot the terrapin?

Yesterday was 'work out day'! Basically this is when the team gets together for a few trips at the beach collecting sea water to refill Eden's tank (our little Hawksbill patient). It's all about physique, walking up and down the beach carrying  30litres containers of sea water..... but we do it all in the name of conservation...and Eden is always very happy to have a refill!

The hard work paid off....Eden is happy!

Relocation of Nest on Intendance

Egg clutch found!

Our 1^st Hawksbill nest at Banyan tree beach or Intendance beach had to be relocated the due to the high tide that was reaching up to the egg clutch area. This was my 1^st time ever doing nest relocation, digging to find the exact area where the eggs was laid  can sometimes take few trials until you find it. I got lucky by finding the exact area where the Hawksbill layed its eggs.

Vanessa explains correct handling of the eggs

 The whole team worked together to make this possible,  one holding the umbrella so that the eggs does not get direct sunligth, two carefully removing the eggs from the nest, and the other two were digging a new hole for the nest area that we all thought was safe enough from the high tide.

Rebecca and Vanessa carefully removing the eggs 

 We also had some little fun by playing a guessing game about how many eggs we thought the turtle layed,  no one got the exact number but Alex got his guess close enough, so basically he won, by his prediction of 160 eggs and Vanessa had predicted some close enough digits with 143! The actual amount of eggs was 153. We were all happy with the job well done, and can’t wait to hopefully see the hatchlings come out and start their adventure in this big world.  

Vanessa 'lays' the eggs in its new location

Leonie's journal update...

27^th of June – 1^st of July

Monday

Nothing special happened in the morning, the tanks and the centre got cleaned and chichi got his food. Eden had no food over the whole weekend but he is still not eating on his own. But I think he is trying more often to dive now unfortunately he still got air in his body so he is not able to stay under water and it costs him a huge effort to dive down.

In the afternoon Vanessa went with Imogen and me to the beaches to profile them. We profiled almost all of them, only a few points at Grand Police were left for an other day during the week. While driving we always have an eye on the garbage on the side of the road and collect as much as possible, special bottles and cans.

Tuesday

The vet told us to start to feed Eden in a different pattern, from now on we feed him one day, then one day of no food, next day we will feed him again and after the third day he does not get food for two days and then the circle starts from the beginning again.

In the late morning the bird survey was made again. Not many birds were around, what was a little bit strange, as the weather was very stormy and wet the last few days. What would mean that all the worms and insect are at the surface.

Thursday

On Thursday I was not in the south working, I helped Sara on Cerf to do the cleaning of the coral nursery grounds. We had very good visibility and we were done with the monitoring and the cleaning after little less than a half an hour. Unfortunately, almost all corals died already, only 35 are left. After the job was done we also enjoyed the reef a little bit. A big group of glassfish was around which was very nice.

After a nice lunch we went out again to do the monitoring of the corals but the cameras both were out of batteries and so we could not finish it.

We returned to the office around 3pm and Sara typed in the data of the day into the computer. Margoux also spotted a turtle earlier during the day. She took pictures of it and these pictures were added to a program, which helps to identify them. The turtle was never spotted before. I took the 4:15pm ferry back to Mahe.

Sitting in the middle of the big track!

Friday

A very exciting day today! While finishing the beach profiling with Vanessa at Grand Police Bay we spotted a fresh turtle nest from a very big big green turtle. The nest must be younger than 24h. We could see that the turtle dug at different places at the same spot and there was an other whole 20m down the beach but this one looked empty. As a very high tide probably could reach the nest, Vanessa decided to relocate the eggs. The plan was to bring them to a save place at Intendance beach. Full of motivation we went to the beach again and were looking for the eggs. Unfortunately or luckily (that is the question now), we could not find them. Mama turtle did a very good job and hopefully nobody or nothing else will find them. In the end we had to close our big holes again and we marked the area. Sometimes you can not beat the nature….

More than half of the day was already over, when we returned to the office. After lunch Vanessa and Imogen cleaned all the bottles we collected during the last few days. All the money which we get for the empty bottles goes to MCSS, even when it is not super much it still helps.

A few barnacles were attached to some bottles, Vanessa putted them into Eden’s tank and he tried to take a bite of them once. But again, in the end he did not eat them. So we had to force feed him again in the afternoon.

Trying to find the well hidden egg clutch!

Leonie....our newest volunteer shares her journal.....

20^th of June – 24^th of June 2016

Monday

The normal work has to get done, like feeding Chichi and Eden, who is still not eating on his own unfortunately and so we have to force feed him almost everyday, cleaning the tanks and cleaning up the centre. Also the traps were checked and relocated as every day. Sadly, during the last couple weeks, the traps were always empty and no terrapins were caught, the same today.

After the normal routine was done, Rebecca, Imogen and I went for crab hunting to the beach. The idea behind that action, was to get some living and moving friends/food for Eden. After an hour we were totally soaked and exhausted and had a good bucket full of different kinds of crabs and also some Rockskippers. Unfortunately, the crabs were not that happy to be squeezed into the bucket and therefore started to fight. Two crabs were already dead, when we arrived back at the centre. Eden tried once to take a bite of the biggest crab in the tank, what the crab did not really like and so run away. Since then Eden never tried to get a crab or a Rockskipper again.

In the afternoon a big group of Chinese people came around to check out the centre.

Tuesday

Not much was going on on Tuesday. During the morning we did my first bird-survey. Basically we were walking around in the wetland and counted all the birds which appeared. I spotted a Seychelles Kestrel, these guys are not super common. Apart from that, we have not seen anything very interesting.

In the afternoon we were doing some office work.

Wednesday

Usual stuff in the morning but we also cleaned and scrubbed the tanks properly plus all the filter got washed out as well. Eden was still not eating by himself. Inga started to put out traps at the Grand Police-bay. Rebecca and I were helping her to set them up but unfortunately they were empty at the end of the day. It was fun anyway to get a ride in the back of the truck and to discover the beautiful natural wetland behind Police-bay.

In the afternoon we started the drone for Inga and she did her first drone flight. All the batteries from all the different machines were not charged though, therefor this was a short first practical exercise. Inga did a very good job and was super excited about it.

After that, we relocated the traps and went home.

Thursday

Thursday was a very easy and creative day. Vanessa was working in the north and Jonny was not feeling well. So Rebecca, Imogen and I were the chief-operator in the office. After the usual cleaning in the morning, we started to draw some nice pictures (wildlife related) to paint them later on on the wall outside the centre.  After the traps were in the right spots we started our creation.

In the late afternoon some Chinese visitors came around and had a quick look around, we could not really explain something to them as they are not speaking English very well.

After we finished our paintings we fed Eden and took the traps out.

Friday

After the tanks were clean and the centre was looking good as well, Vanessa took Imogen and me to two beaches where we did the beach-profiling, which has to be done every month. With the help of two poles, a tape measure and abney level the erosion of the beaches can get measured. During this time of the year, the south of Mahe is pretty rough and therefore, the beaches are very eroded and not much sand is left, compared to the other half of the year, when the northern part of the island got the rough weather. Some manager of the Banyan tree hotel are worried because the erosion, but looking at the data from the previous years, the beaches are not more eroded than the years before.

After lunch we started an other try to fly the drone. This time we went to grand police bay. Everything went fine and we did a great video. At least we thought we were making a great video, in the end nothing was recorded unfortunately, as we forgot to press the record-bottom.

There was a group of Russian visitors supposed to come around 2pm but they never showed up. So we left the office at 4pm and were happy to have weekend now.

Introducing Imogen!

On Monday I started my work experience at the rehabilitation centre. I wanted to work here for the two weeks because it’s something different to all the jobs that everyone else is doing. Everyone at the centre is very polite and has made me feel very welcome on my first day. The first few days have been interesting and I have learnt some new things from the jobs I have done, such as how to measure the salinity in the water as you need a specific amount for the animal in it which I did not know until I came here, and I have also learnt how to set traps to possibly catch terrapins, so far we have not caught any.

Enjoying a cup of tea before doing some serious tasks!

I find the jobs I have done so far interesting as they are active and involve going outside which is better than being in an office most of the time. I like the jobs particularly because you see different things everyday and learn something new.

My first job at the centre was to catch a few crabs as Eden a turtle currently recovering at the centre needs some living creatures in his tank, despite my fear of crabs I managed to catch a few and spot lots of them, I learned that when they are all put together they are very aggressive and will fight and end up killing each other, so there are only a few living ones left.

Yesterday one of the jobs that we did was bird monitoring, there was a lot of walking involved but we managed to spot many species of birds. During the three days that I have been here there are only two animals at the centre, one of them being a terrapin named Chichi that was domesticated and now that the person looking after it has left and gave him to the centre, where they are helping it get back to being independent and ready for the wild again. The other one is a turtle named Eden no more than a few years old,  he has a cut across the carapace and is in recovery also to be set free into the ocean once again.

All about Eden.....

This week we had to change the water of Eden's tank, so we went to the sea to fill the 25L containers. Filling the tank was not easy. On the first run Vanessa and I had to get in the water which was very rough.........so of course.........We ended up getting very wet. In the second run for water we tried a place with more rocks and less waves but me.........as always.......I fell on my butt and hurt  myself due to the slippery rocks: thankfully Vanessa was nearby to help me get back on my feet!! It was quiet funny, because I fell butt-first into the water, which is not common at all!! LUCKILY......,nobody had a camera to take a picture. Either way, we had lots of fun.

Sea water collection

Back in the centre, Eden has become stronger and stronger, so it is becoming harder for us to feed him. He is still refusing to eat and of course, he doesn't like it when we put the tube through his mouth to feed him. He is becoming more stubborn by not opening his mouth, but we are more stubborn than him in that we will make sure he gains weight and energy so he can recover fast and get back into the sea.

off to be tube fed!

 The better news are that he has pooped! That is a great signal of his recovery as his digestive system is clearly going back to normal slowly.  Vanessa tried to identify the stuff inside the poop, which mostly looked like Eden's had quite a lot of barnicles in his diet. On the flipside, his buoyancy problem does not seem to get better, and we are starting to consider extracting the air inside ourselves with a syringe. We will make sure to contact the vets properly first though!   

Tube feeding Eden

Update from the Wildlife Conservation and Rehabilitation Centre....

Hello! Rebecca at the keyboard. I recently started working with MCSS and the conservation centre and my first month of trapping has been a success! So let me tell you what has been happening at the center. From the beginning of April we have been getting a lot of new Terrapins. Our traps captured a total of nine new turtles in the ponds around the Banyan Tree. It has really been an exciting month at the wildlife center.

One of the new Terrapins we caught was a female we called “Laora”, after taking some X-ray on her, we found out that she had one egg alone inside of her. The egg was really big and perfectly formed. Our theory is that she already laid the other eggs before she came inside the trap. It is not normal for a turtle to produce only one big egg.

We also had a cute small Terrapin hatchling that was caught in the trap. This was very special because we do not usually get just small terrapins in our traps. 

Rebby..the first hatchling caught in a trap!

We called it “Rebby” and it was the cutest little turtle ever. Another day, we caught three turtles in one trap!! 

3 in 1  !!

One of them must have really liked us, because it tried to climb back into the trap once we were done taking her measurements.

The trap lover!

Another exciting happening was the recapturedof terrapin “Stumpy”. She was the first Terrapin to ever X-rayed here at the wildlife centre, and one of the few who has been adopted here at Banyan Tree. She has been captured two times now, and we are all happy to have seen her again.

Stumpy's made an appearance

The team with Stumpy

Strangely, neither we, nor the hotel staff or guests, have found any terrapins randomly walking around the wetlands. We wonder if it is because they are not moving much anymore, perhaps due to the rain, or because they are becoming more aware of human presence…. Or maybe they are plotting something special!!! We will keep watching over them either way ;)