Mansfield's turtle-tracking research also has been a journey. She began in the mid-2000s to develop a method of attaching instruments to young sea turtles for the type of research already done for many years with adult turtles.
But though the devices will stick to grown-up turtles for years, the shells of juveniles grow so quickly that no standard technique would work for more than a few weeks.
Revolutionizing the tactics
In time, Mansfield and colleagues got help from a manicurist, who suggested starting with a nontoxic, acrylic coating because turtle shells are built with much the same stuff as fingernails.
With the acrylic coating as a foundation, the researchers glue down a small piece of old wetsuit as soft bedding for the tracking device, which is then attached with hair-extension glue because it is flexible and waterproof.
The trackers, despite their tiny size and weighing about as much as four pennies, send a signal to satellites that includes location, temperature and how much power is being produced by solar chargers.
The 17 turtles were followed for a few as 27 days to as many as 220 days before the devices fell off. That may not seem like much time, but researchers previously knew little about their whereabouts during that period. What happens afterward is up for further tracking, which is already being done.
The discovery
What they got was a peek into the huge home of loggerhead turtles — essentially into the kids' room.
"We're getting a look at the toddler-to-teenage stage," Mansfield said. "Turtles take a couple of decades to reach maturity, so they have a long time out there before we see them again on our nesting beaches."
Vocabulary Focus
juvenile n.
a young person who is not yet an adult
manicurist n.
a person whose job is to give people maincures
acrylic adj.
of or made from a type of acid which is used in making plastic, cloth and paint
peek n.
a short look at something, especially in a secret way
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