Milly

Post nesting movements of olive ridley turtles in Australia, 2004

A project of WWF Australia.

click map for full-size version Milly has given the least amount of locations of any of the five turtles but is providing some valuable information. Milly has shown use that she doesn't travel very far between nestings andthat she takes 13 days to prepare another clutch of eggs (something we did not know in Australia). After Milly nested again, she moved directly north into the open ocean and she has been steady moving northwest for the past week and has covered nearly 200 km. Milly’s movement to the north west have taken her a long way off the coast. If Milly keeps up this current speed and direction for another week she may need a passport for her journey into international waters.

Full-Size Map (32KB)

Species: Olive Ridley
Life Stage: Adult
Gender: Female
Release Date: 2004-04-19 00:00:00
Release Location: Melville Is., NT, Australia
Last Location: 2004-05-17 14:12:34

Background

"Milly" was named by the students of the Pularumpi School at Garden Point on Melville Island. Pularumpi (Garden Point) has about 330 residents and is the the community that is closest to the olive ridley nesting beach. Under the guidance of Marine Ranger Jack Long, the students and teachers are also helping to conduct weekly track counts of nesting turtles on a remote beach. Milly's transmitter was attached on 19 April when she nested on Cape Van Dieman on Melville Island at the top of Aspley Strait. Milly has a length of 72.4 cm curved carapace (shell) length and weighs 38 kg.