Sea turtles keep traditions. A new study has found that these reptiles visit the same areas of seagrass meadows.
Sea Turtles Have a 3,000-Year-Old Tradition.
According to a recent study, green sea turtles in the Mediterranean Sea still frequent the same seagrass meadows as they did 3000 years ago. According to the authors, the findings highlight ecologically important but currently unprotected beaches in North Africa and offer a fresh perspective on how ancient history might inform modern conservation efforts, per Science.org.
Cyler Conrad, a cultural resources environmental scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory who wasn't engaged in the research, described it as "really, really thrilling." He claims that "very few" investigations have identified this long-standing link between animals and their surroundings.
Sea turtles enjoy consistency. Chelonia mydas, a species of green sea turtle, deposit their eggs in the same location where they hatched. To eat their preferred diet, seagrass, they return to their hyperspecific spots, which can be tiny - sometimes 50 square meters.
Annette Broderick, a professor of marine conservation at the University of Exeter, added that turtles have their small area. It makes it reasonable that you would keep returning if you found a pleasant place.
According to Broderick and others, this loyalty lasts for much longer than the lifetime of a single turtle.
The garbage can containing the bones and shells of turtles from previous meals - as they were a prized delicacy in the Mediterranean for thousands of years - hold the evidence.
Willemien de Kock, a postdoctoral researcher at the Groningen Institute of Archaeology and the study's first author, admitted that she was surprised by the findings. She noted they could travel far back in time and still observe the turtles acting similarly. According to the study, animals have traditions too. So, she wondered what would happen if these locations vanished.
Climate Change Threatens Meadows
Before earning her doctorate, De Kock investigated seagrass meadows and emphasized that dependence is reciprocal. Seagrass meadows require turtles to graze on them to remain "lush," according to her.
However, she claims that due to a shorter recovery period between record-breaking heat waves, climate change threatens the future of these meadows. All of the foraging grounds her team discovered lack any legal protection, and several are located on the coast of North Africa, where armed conflict limits exploration, and oil extraction is anticipated.
According to Broderick, green sea turtles might require a new location if they are not protected from further stressors. She added that losing these seagrasses could impact other species and eliminate a crucial climate change buffer.
Conrad asserts that such transdisciplinary, historical research is essential for conservation. He suggested that this synthesis of antiquated chemistry with contemporary satellite methods could be used to comprehend other marine species, such as fish and whales. He added that it's our responsibility to tell their story clearly and fully to the world.
The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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