February 2020 | Part 2
Greetings!

We hope you enjoy following the care of Pip! Be sure to "Like" us on Facebook and Instagram for up-to-date news and events happening around the Center and Jekyll Island. 

If you wish to update your email information, please reply to this message or send an email to  gstceducation@jekyllisland.com  using "Adopt-a-Sea Turtle" in the subject line. 
Rehabilitation Update
Growth Spurt
Pip has grown a lot since his/her arrival in September!

Pip has been growing well since arriving at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center in the fall. When Pip first got here on September 28th, he/she weighed 18.6 grams; this intake weight is the same weight as four sheets of paper. When he/she arrived, Pip was as large as a person's palm. It took Pip a couple months before he/she began putting on large amounts of weight and growing larger. Last time Pip came out for a check-up on February 22, he/she tipped the scales at 212 grams. This is more than 11 times what Pip weighed upon arrival! You can see from the recent photo of Pip above that he/she is now much larger than a person's palm.

Pip still has many months left in our care here at the GSTC and we expect he/she will keep growing. Our last loggerhead sea turtle hatchling, Boomerang, weighed more than double what Pip does now when he/she was released last October. Hopefully Pip will reach a similar weight before release this fall.
You can see from this graph that Pip's weight has been steadily increasing since October
Education Connection
Other Georgia Sea Turtle Monitoring Projects - Part 2
A map of Georgia's barrier islands
Over the last several adoption updates we have told you about most of the sea turtle monitoring projects in Georgia. (If you have missed these, scroll to the next section of this email and check out the "Education Connection" portion of the adoption updates beginning on December 30th.) Although we have covered most of Georgia's sea turtle projects, there are a few more we did not want to leave out!

While most sea turtle nesting in Georgia occurs on undeveloped barrier islands, the developed islands also deserve a mention for the work they put in to sea turtle nest monitoring. Tybee Island, Sea Island, and St. Simons Island put in a lot of effort to find and protect the few nests that are laid on their beaches. Where developed islands may lack in high nesting numbers, they make up for it in volunteer numbers. Because St. Simons and Tybee Islands are easily accessible, dozens of dedicated volunteers help monitor sea turtle nests on their beaches every year.

Just north of developed Sea Island is Little St. Simons Island. This largely undeveloped barrier island does not allow its sea turtle technicians to drive a vehicle on the beach to monitor sea turtle nests. Instead, they must ride a bicycle the entire 7-mile stretch of beach every day to look for, screen, and check on incubating nests. In one record-breaking nesting season a few years ago, the technician from Little St. Simons rode her bike so far on the beach she could have biked to Canada from Georgia!
 
Of note, only one other Georgia sea turtle project apart from Jekyll's goes out at nighttime to look for nesting turtles, and that is the Caretta Research Project on Wassaw Island. It is always interesting when Wassaw and Jekyll researchers get together and share stories of what nesting turtles do under the cover of dark.
 
Although all of Georgia's projects patrol their own distinct barrier island beaches, each is part one cohesive unit called the Georgia Sea Turtle Cooperative. Here at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, we are proud to be part of this dedicated group of individuals. If you would like to learn more about these projects, click here .
Past Adoption Updates
Did you miss a previous update on Pip?
Don't worry! You can read them all by clicking the links below.

Meet Pip

What Pip Eats

Pip's Move to a Kiddie Pool

Pip Dives Deeper

Antibiotics

Fiddler Crabs

Pip's Move to the Learning Center Tank

Crawl to the Finish: Turtle Crawl 2020
Registration for the 2020 Turtle Crawl races is now open! Join us on Jekyll Island March 14, 2020 to participate in the 5K, 10K, or beach fun run. Can't make it to Jekyll? No problem! Sign up as a ghost crawler and run from home while supporting the turtles! Proceeds from the races go back to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center to help us continue our mission of rehabilitation, research, and education.

Click here to learn more about the races and register!
Please do not unsubscribe as this is the primary method of sharing the latest news about Pip's progress & future release information when it becomes available.  

Donations from the Adopt-a-Sea Turtle program support the Georgia Sea Turtle Center's mission of rehabilitation, education, & research. The timeline for a patient's stay is always dependent on the turtle's health & response to care and cannot be guaranteed. As there are many environmental factors and permissions to consider when scheduling turtle releases; we do our best to share information as timely (efficiently) as possible. Our staff do their best to consider not only the turtle's health, but also our supporters like you! 
Thank you for your support!


Sincerely,
The GSTC Education Department

Georgia Sea Turtle Center
214 Stable Road
Jekyll Island, GA 31527