Owens, David, Thane Wibbels, Diana Comuzzie, David Rostal 

 Mark Grassman, Robert Figler and Colin Limpus* 



Reproductive Behavior and Physiology of Marine Turtles; 

 Results of Recent Research 



Biology Department, Texas A&M University, 

 College Station, Texas 77843 USA 



♦Queensland National Parks & Wildlife 

 Pallarenda, Townsville, Queensland 4810, Australia 



Imprinting studies 



Grassman conducted laboratory protocols in which hatchlings 

 of Chelonia mydas , Caretta caretta or Lepidochelys kempi were 

 exposed to natural beach sands and solutions of artificial media 

 and chemicals. Chemical exposures were either: A) nest only, B) 

 holding tank water only, or C) nest and tank. The turtles were 

 less than one year of age when their responses to these same 

 chemicals were evaluated in a multiple choice arena. The 

 following conclusions were derived from this work: 



1. Sea turtles can orient to specific chemical cues 

 learned early in life without formal conditioning. 



2. They can distinguish between low concentrations of 

 solutions prepared from natural beaches. 



3. In our apparatus, immature turtles appear to show 

 imprinting (Lorenzian definition) to chemicals to which 

 they have been exposed early in life. 



4 . Exposure both in the nest and the tank water was 

 necessary for any consistent responses in our system. 

 This amounts to a prolonged exposure of several weeks. 



We intend to test a similar protocol with adult turtles in 

 the near future. 



Reproductive behavior studies 



Comuzzie has worked with James and Fern Wood at Cayman 

 Turtle Farm and developed an ethogram of adult C. mydas behaviors 

 observed in captivity. Specific described behaviors include 

 checks, nuzzels, bites, circling, chases, attempted mounts, 

 mounts, escorts, following, gapes, cloacal checks, faces and 

 pushes. Bites, circling and biting, chasing and mounts were also 

 seen in a wild population in Australia. Males did not 

 discriminate between reproductively active and inactive females 

 when giving cloacal checks and may use this behavior to evaluate 

 active females. Females conducted cloacal checks of other 



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