23 November 2009

We checked the traps early today so that Matt could get to the Refuge headquarters to start his marathon Skype sessions with five different classes at Westfield High School. He met his first class online at 9:30 AST (8:30 EST) and finished with his last class at approximately 13:45 AST. We only captured two animals to show his classes which meant that each animal received several doses of ketamine so that he could demonstrate all the techniques except PIT tag injections. Claudia Lombard returned from doing beach surveys with a bag containing approximately 25 hatchling green and hawksbill turtles that Matt showed his last two classes. This was a rare treat given the fact that hawksbill are extremely endangered and are on the verge of extinction. Claudia excavated the hatchlings from nests that hatched the night before. Apparently not all hatchlings emerge from the nest and so there are always a few stragglers for whatever reason don't leave the nest with all the rest. Claudia excavates those nests, estimates hatchling success, removes the stragglers, and then releases them into the water after dark.

After Matt finished his Skype sessions we checked each of the traps again and recorded the GPS locations of each trap site. We captured four additional mongoose for a total of six animals in 35 traps for the day.