Coastal traveling with Donny the sea turtle
Our favourite little traveling turtle Donny seems to be really enjoying her coastal adventure and is currently exploring the Wild Coast. It has already been a 117 day voyage for Donny since her released off Durban in July. She first made her way down to De Hoop before heading back up the coast with an average of 27.5 km travelled per day.
She is strong and very determined swimming against the current as she is edging closer to the warm shoulder of the Agulhas current. She is approximately 5 km offshore in 18’C water and seems to be keen to get back up to the warmer waters around Durban, which is also home to her adopted ‘dad’, local underwater photographer Don Hunter.
She has covered a total of 3215 km during this journey. Loggerhead sea turtles are distributed in tropical and temperate areas of each ocean basin globally and occupy pelagic and coastal habitats during their life cycle. Donny is thus behaving like a typical loggerhead turtle, a true explorer and adventure traveller.
This youngster was rehabilitated at the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town over a 2 year period and as part of a collaborative turtle tracking study she was flown up to the SAAMBR sea turtle hospital in Durban by the Bateleurs. After a short stay at SAAMBR she was released into the warm current off Durban.
