Jika - Post nesting movements of olive ridley turtles in Australia, 2004
A project of WWF Australia.
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Jika appears to be heading home to her feeding area. The feeding area is classed as their home because they spend most of the life in the feeding area and only a short period at the nesting beach. Jika has moved further than any of the other four turtles. In the past week she has moved progressively east travelling past New Year Island, past the Goulburn Islands, past the township of Maningrida and is now just east of the Crocodile Islands. If she continues east it will be exciting to see how Jika will navigate through or around the large barrier islands called the Wessel Islands. Commercial vessels navigate through a narrow passage called the �hole in the wall� situated between Marchinbar and Guluwuru Island. This short cut saves vessels many hours because otherwise they would have to travel to the north of these islands. Kika has also taken a more erratic path than the other turtles. This could be because she is feeding along the way and making use of local currents and tides to help her on her journey.
Background
Jika was named by the students of Xavier Community Education Centre (XCEC) which is a secondary school in the township of Nguiu on Bathurst Island, Tiwi Islands. Jika is short for Jikapurani which in Tiwi language means �good looking�. The students of XCEC are excited about this project and are eager to learn more about the biology of olive ridley turtles.
Jika was fitted with a satellite transmitter after she nested on Cape Van Diemen on 21 April 2004. She was the smallest of the five turtles measuring only 66.4 cm in shell length (curved carapace) weighing only 29 kg.
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- This map connects positions generated by the ARGOS system designated as location class (lc) '3', '2', '1', '0', 'A', 'B'. Locations that have been "filtered" are displayed as small red dots.
- This maps also shows locations of class 'Z' as small black dots which are not connected by a route line.
- Bathymetry layers are derived from the GEBCO One Minute Grid.
- Sea surface temperature and chlorophyll are derived from NASA's Ocean Color data.
- Ocean currents and sea surface heights are derived from AVISO's Ssalto/Duacs Gridded Absolute Dynamic Topography & absolute geostrophic velocities data.
