Honu Hatchlings, Waihe'e, Maui by Turtle Trax

On July 21, 2009, Hawaii State Biologist Skippy Hau excavated two green turtle nests on the north shore of Maui, near Waihe'e. Both had hatched within a day or two of each other, meaning that two different females were nesting on this beach. Since nesting in the Main Islands is still rare, this Maui beach has become an important site for honu.

Once hatchlings are known to have emerged from a honu nest, the procedure is to wait 5-7 days, then excavate the nest. On Maui, excavations are the responsibility of our good friend Skippy Hau. He excavates for two reasons: first, to rescue any trapped hatchlings, and second, to evaluate the success of the nest and to collect any unhatched eggs or dead hatchlings for analysis by the Marine Turtle Research Program run by George Balazs for the NMFS.

Hatchlings need other hatchlings to help them dig out of a nest. (See our book, The Book of Honu, for a nice description!) This means that when Skippy digs out a nest, he'll usually find at least one or two trapped hatchlings, stragglers who have no hope of digging themselves out without help. In this case, nest 1 contained seven live hatchlings and nest 2 added another eight. Skippy saved fifteen little honu, and at sunset, released them to scamper down the beach before an adoring crowd.

This video shows how cute honu hatchlings are. Beware, heart thieves at work!

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• honu
• green turtle
• marine turtle
• sea turtle
• hatchling
• waihe'e
• maui
• hawaii
• turtle nest