Turtles!

This morning was my first day working solo on the project and collecting actual data! First thing I did was sit and watch the turtles for about half an hour (so they got used to me being there and moved as they would normally) and then I counted how many were on each type of substrate. I was very surprised with how amusing it was to watch them all! I also wrote down how many of the turtles had lesions that were basking outside of the water. Next I grabbed the nail polish and started remarking almost everyone! It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be; since it was pretty nice in the morning the turtles wanted to stay basking out of the water meaning that after I re-painted them I could count on them staying out of the pool! It was a lot easier than trying to put all of them into a few buckets and going one by one. Every once in a while I got confused about what the actual number of the turtle was but by measuring the length of its shell it was easy enough to figure out who it was from the data collected last Wednesday. I did have a very sad moment today however. When checking the pool for more turtles that I hadn't marked yet I found #9 had died :( It was one of the turtles missing information from the previous day so I think he had died before Wednesday and we just didn't see him that day. I feel terrible about it and that I could have done more to prevent it. I think the problem for the little turtles is that the ramp is the favorite place to be which then makes a huge traffic jam and once it's full, unless you're big and mean, there is no gettng out of the pool. I'm not sure how to fix this though because if I fill the whole area with ramps there will be nowhere for them to swim! Hmm

On a bit of a happier note I found a brand new turtle! I don't know when he got there but we didn't have any of his information down and he was not designated a number yet. When I first found him I was afraid he was suffering the same way #9 had been; he was weak, had very little colour in his skin, and he felt very fagile when I was checking him for lesions. I decided to leave him in a bucket for a bit while I marked some other turtles to give him time to dry off. By the time I got to him he was already in better spirits! He was more energetic and very social. I painted on his new number (55 - very stylish) and set him loose to run around in the sand as he wanted. Instead of running away like most of the other turtles though he followed me around! Even when I wasn't in their area he would track the perimeter near me and try to get out! He is definitely another one of my favorites now :)

After talking to a few people about #9 and what I should do with him it was time to watch my turtles again. This half an hour wasn't quite as fun as the first one though because I kept thinking about what I could have done different to save #9. I even had to cry over him - a little turtle that I didn't even know! I felt so silly but I couldn't help it. Poor little guy. Once I finished collecting my second set of data I checked in on #45 again (he is the small blind one). I think he is getting weaker and is in desperate need of special attention. I have to talk with Vanessa about their diet and see what they are eating. I am still frustrated with the lack of communication between people at R3 and how long it takes to get things into action. I'm going to see if they will let me feed them Mon Wed Fri when I'm there so that I can make sure they are getting at least that much.

While I was looking after my turtle buisiness Sandro and Cris were washing a couple of oil-spill penguins! I didn't get to watch because I took too long with all my little dudes but it's nice knowing that they are all cleaned up now :)

Another bit of unfortunate news - I went to take some pictures of my favorite turtles to show you guys and my camera wouldn't turn on. I tried not to panick and was hoping that it was just a dead battery... but no suck luck. I'm not sure if there is a place here that will be able to look at it for me or not. I'm confused as to what went wrong though - it simply does nothing! This may mean that I need to purchase camera number 6 here in Brazil. Bummer.

I'm not sure if I told everyone yet but our trip to the Amazon is officially booked! We fly to Manaus Nov 14 to spend a couple days there, followed by 5 days floating down the Amazon River in our hamocks, finishing with a couple days in Belem and flying back to Florianopolis on the 24th! I am absolutely stoked!

Earlier today Tracy and I went downtown to get her to the bus station for her 2 week journey in the West! At 7:45 ish Tracy was on board and all set. She has details about what she's doing in her blog - sounds like it's going to be really cool!

As for this weekend I don't have any solid plans. But I'm sure trouble will find me somehow ;)