Sea Turtle Week runs from June 8 to June 16, starting with World Ocean Day and ending on World Sea Turtle Day.
And this year, the Loggerhead Marinelife Center of Juno Beach, Florida celebrated the week-long holiday with an incredible milestone.
“A few weeks ago, an unexpected visitor named ‘Tini’ made history as the first-ever suspected olive ridley sea turtle documented on our beach,” the conservation center shared on Facebook on June 12.
“To confirm her species, blood samples were sent to The Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia for genetic analysis, and the results are officially in: Tini is 100% olive ridley!”
According to the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, olive ridleys are among the most abundant sea turtle species in the world. However, the sea turtle — also known as the Pacific ridley sea turtle — is primarily found in India, Mexico, and Costa Rica.
Substantial nesting populations can also be found in Suriname, French Guiana, Brazil, and the West African country of Gabon — but it is virtually unheard of for an olive ridley to nest along Florida beaches.
“Sightings along Florida’s east coast are incredibly rare, making Tini’s appearance all the more remarkable,” the Loggerhead Marinelife Center said.
In fact, Tini’s nest marks the first documented case of an olive ridley sea turtle nesting in Florida — ever.
Image via the Loggerhead Marinelife Center
“A huge thank you to our partners at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the University of Georgia for helping document and confirm this extraordinary sea turtle,” they added.
The olive ridley is one of the world’s smallest sea turtles, with an adult’s shell measuring up to 2 to 2.5 feet in length. On average, they weigh between 80 and 110 pounds — much smaller than their largest relative, the leatherback sea turtle, which can weigh up to 2,000 pounds.
The olive ridley is known for its distinct heart-shaped, olive-green shell. Unlike other sea turtles, olive ridley sea turtles have two nesting strategies — solitary, like Tini — and en masse by the thousands.
In Mexico, this synchronized mass nesting event is known as an arribada. The natural phenomenon results in simultaneous nesting of thousands, and sometimes tens of thousands, of olive ridleys. Experts believe the technique is used to overwhelm potential predators and keep hatchlings safe.
To underscore how rare it is for olive ridley sea turtles to be found in Florida, one should consider the travels of Nicole Milson — a woman who made it her life’s goal to encounter all seven species of sea turtle.
Ironically, an early destination in her journey was the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Florida, where she saw her first loggerhead. But there was no Tini to see at that time — the American had to fly all the way to Costa Rica to meet her first olive ridley, while volunteering through Working Abroad.
An olive ridley sea turtle rests on a beach. Image via Pinku Halder (CC BY-SA 4.0)
“I got to see and work with 53 Olives,” Milson told Good Good Good, adding that her volunteer experience was the hardest she’s worked in her “whole life.”
“You would go out and do an all-night walk on the beach, and during the day, we had cleaning duties and [built] a new hatchery for their eggs,” she said.
But Milson — who would go on to fulfill her dreams of meeting all seven types of sea turtles — has no regrets.
“I can’t believe something I’ve been a part of will be around for years to come,” she said.
The egg hatchery Milson helped build in Costa Rica. Image via Nicole Milson
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Header image via The Loggerhead Marinelife Center
