These 3 stranded turtles were rescued by the Aquarium La Rochelle in France. After several months of care, it’s finally time for them to return to the wild.
Brut Nature went to the Isle of Ré, off the Atlantic coast, to watch them make their way back into the ocean.
Brut Nature went to the Isle of Ré, off the Atlantic coast, to watch them make their way back into the ocean.
Category
🐳
AnimalsTranscript
00:00Come on, Zou!
00:03Come on, go!
00:06Come on, Zou!
00:26Here we are in the Aquarium La Rochelle Marine Tortoises Care Center.
00:30This is the place where we will treat the marine tortoises
00:33that will be found, failed or accidentally captured
00:36on the entire coast of the Atlantic.
00:38So here you have Jolie, a small K1 tortoise
00:41that we found this winter, which required a lot of care.
00:44In particular, it presented an inflammation,
00:46an infection at the level of a phalange,
00:48which required its amputation.
00:50It healed very well.
00:52Here we have Jupiter, which is a Kemp tortoise.
00:54It is still quite exceptional,
00:56even if some individuals will be found
00:58on the Atlantic coast.
01:00We mainly have juvenile individuals
01:02that will fail during the winter period.
01:04And here we have a specimen,
01:06an individual of practically adult size,
01:08which normally should have been found
01:10near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico,
01:12where the Kemp tortoise population is located.
01:15So it carries a satellite transmitter
01:17since it is an animal that has reached a sufficient size
01:19to be equipped with a satellite transmitter.
01:21And thanks to it, we will be able to record
01:23its movements in the Gulf of Gascony.
01:25We hope a little further.
01:27Everything will depend on it.
01:29In this last aquarium,
01:31we have the third K1 tortoise
01:33that will return to the sea tomorrow.
01:35Its name is Jason.
01:37It was also found this winter
01:39on a beach in Gironde.
01:41Like all marine tortoises
01:43that we will find during this winter period,
01:45they will be in hypothermia,
01:47very dehydrated and very poor.
01:49When the tortoises find themselves in waters
01:51where the temperature is about 15 degrees,
01:53they will be in a state of lethargy,
01:55they will float to the surface
01:57and they will gradually drift away.
01:59When the temperatures reach 5-6 degrees,
02:01they can die of cold.
02:03So it is really about taking care
02:05of these animals very quickly
02:07to try to make sure
02:09that we can warm them up very quickly
02:11and avoid their death.
02:13So let's go!
02:231,960 grams.
02:25Doing the last weighing
02:27allows us to see the evolution
02:29of its growth
02:31between its arrival
02:33and the moment
02:35when it will be put back in the water.
02:37And there, it is very eager.
02:39So we will check
02:41that its electronic chip
02:43is well implanted.
02:45So in fact,
02:47all the people
02:49who work around the world
02:51on sea turtles
02:53are normally equipped
02:55with a chip reader like this one.
02:57And if it is observed again,
02:59they will know
03:01who is the owner
03:03of the electronic chip.
03:05And so we will have an idea
03:07of its trajectory.
03:21We will put the two little ones
03:23over there.
03:25And then we will slide
03:27the box like this.
03:29Is it good?
03:31It's good.
03:35Come on girls,
03:37let's go!
03:51Water temperature measurement
04:01So here I will measure
04:03the water temperature.
04:05It will give me an additional element
04:07that I will be able to put
04:09in our database on sea turtles.
04:11If they failed, it was precisely
04:13because the temperatures were too low.
04:15Here we have reached a temperature
04:17that is rather correct.
04:19So here we are at 19.5°C.
04:21These are temperatures
04:23that are comparable
04:25to the rehabilitation aquariums
04:27in which the turtles had been
04:29until now.
04:31In fact, we have reduced the temperature
04:33for about a month,
04:35so that it is comparable
04:37to that of the environment
04:39in which they will find themselves
04:41so that they do not have a thermal shock.
04:43And so it's very good.
04:49We're going to put it there.
04:51And then, that's it.
04:53By the way, there it is.
04:57We will start with Jason,
04:59Jolie and we will finish
05:01with Jupiter.
05:03Come on, let's go.
05:07I'm helping her a little bit.
05:09I'm with her until the end.
05:19It's difficult
05:21to really define
05:23all the sensations I can have.
05:25It's the end of a long job,
05:27several months of care,
05:29of rehabilitation
05:31that allow today
05:33to be able to put them back
05:35in the water
05:37and that they can return
05:39to their element
05:41in good condition.
05:43It's the end of a long job,
05:45several months of care,
05:47several months of rehabilitation
05:49that allow today
05:51to be able to put them back
05:53in the water
05:55and that they can return
05:57to their element
05:59in good condition.