Loggerhead sea turtle swam nearly 5,000 km in 6 months

MUGLA, Türkiye

A loggerhead sea turtle named Atlas, fitted with a satellite tracking device on the Turkish coast, has covered nearly 5,000 kilometers (3,100 miles) since its release, according to researchers.

The Caretta caretta turtle, equipped by staff from the Sea Turtle Research, Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Mugla, southwestern Türkiye, and released into the sea on Aug. 9 from Iztuzu Beach near Dalyan, left the country's coasts, passed the island of Crete and its waters into the Central Mediterranean, and then continued westward along the coast of Libya, North Africa.

According to the latest satellite data, Atlas is now located off the coast of Tunisia.

Speaking to Anadolu, Yakup Kaska, the center’s director, explained that the monitoring of Atlas — aimed at identifying migration routes, feeding grounds, and wintering areas — found that the wide-ranging turtle covered approximately 5,000 kilometers during those months.

The turtle research and rescue center began its activities in 2009 on Mugla’s Dalyan Beach, which is famed as a nesting ground for Caretta caretta (loggerhead) turtles.

The center does research on sea turtles’ nesting, feeding, wintering, and migration patterns, while also treating and rehabilitating injured sea turtles to enable their return to natural habitats.

To date, the center has taken in 250 injured turtles for rehabilitation, and 142 of them have recovered and been successfully released back into the wild.

In cooperation with the Specially Protected Areas Regional Activity Centre in Tunisia, the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn in Italy, and TUI Care Foundation in Netherlands, the center tracks sea turtles using satellite technology.