Tilly the green turtle has been equipped with a satellite tracker to follow his journey. While heading towards Tonga, it was observed to make a sudden U-turn, a day before the Hunga Tonga submarine volcano erupted. Researchers then wonder if turtles can predict seismic activity.
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[EN VIDÉO] Explosive eruption in the Tonga Islands The eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’Apai volcano produced very violent explosions and columns of ash 20 to 30 kilometers high.
A few years ago, two newborn green turtles were rescued and brought to the Turtle Rehabilitation Center in Cairns (CTCR) in Australia. They were named Tilly and Sammy although the gender could not be identified until they were at least 20 years old. Typically, rescued turtles are released when they reach 45 centimeters. The departure of Tilly and Sammy was originally supposed to take place during the period of Covid-19but the conditions of the health crisis postponed the date. By the time they could finally be released, both turtles were three years old and therefore had considerably larger shells. The CTRC was then able to fit them with more powerful satellite trackers than those used for the smaller turtles. These devices are intended to follow the path of the turtles.
What did the trackers show?
So ten weeks ago, the turtles were released off the Australian coast with a tracking installed on their shell. Unfortunately, Sammy’s tracker stopped sending signals after 10 days, which could be either a device malfunction or an accidental encounter. with a shark.
However, Tilly’s journey could be recorded. She headed for 47 days east towards Tonga, then suddenly made a sharp U-turn and fled in the opposite direction. The next day (January 15, 2022), the submarine volcano Hunga Tonga Kingdom of Tonga erupted causing a tsunami and ash rain reaching neighboring islands. Later, Tilly showed another peculiar behavior while heading for the Great Barrier Reef. She again turned away from her path as a small earthquake was hitting northern Queensland.
No study on the sensitivity of turtles to seismic remote sensing has yet been done, although it has already been shown that some animals have the ability to detect seismic activities. Jennifer Gilbert of CTCR said she will do an observational article, but using a turtle as a prediction tool is very bold considering that it is impossible to tell a turtle where to go, or predict what it will go do.
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