Review : Voyage of the Turtle: In Pursuit of the Earth's Last Dinosaur

Carl Safina’s mellifluous prose evokes the beauty and mystery of the sea and its ancient denizen, the Leatherback turtle


Voyage Of The Turtle: In Pursuit Of The Earth's Last Dinosaur
by Carl Safina
Published by Henry Holt and Co.; 1st edition (May 30, 2006)
Rs 689 on Flipkart

Carl Safina is a marine scientist and the founder of the Blue Ocean Institute. This is his third book after the much acclaimed and award winning Song for the Blue Ocean: Encounters Along the World's Coasts and Beneath the Seas and Eye of the Albatross: Visions of Hope and Survival.


Safina starts his travels in Trinidad where this noble giant,  survivor of more than 100 years of evolution, is giving birth on a dark beach, and then takes us on a trip through Florida, South Carolina, Cape Breton Islands in the ice-cold waters off the Canadian coast, Malaysia, Costa Rica, Mexico and finally New Guinea – all the remaining (and sadly former) habitats of the Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea). In the course of his travels he meets scientists, law enforcers, poachers turned conservationists, resort owners, fishing boat captains and gives us an intimate view into the life and biology of this beautiful creature – in the ocean, on land, at the moment of its first swim and washed up carcasses. What results is a compelling, passionate but honest account of the species and the mesh of attitudes, laws (or their absence), threats (including destructive fishing techniques that have depleted the oceans) and research that may eventually pull it back from the brink.


The book is full of facts and data that can come from intimate contact and close study alone. For instance, the Leatherback is the only turtle that, after laying almost seven dozen billiard-ball-sized eggs, lays another two dozen embryo-less eggs on top, their purpose yet unknown. It is conjectured that they may play a role in providing air-space on the top of the nest, stabilize humidity or protect against fungal infection.


In another place Safina writes about the failure of the initial TEDs (turtle exclusion devices) since the opening size allowed only the juveniles to escape and it took years to enforce a larger opening by law. Or, for instance, that well into the 1990s, the Japanese imported turtle shells – 30,000 kg of it (amounting to almost 30,000 adult Hawksbill turtles harvested annually) to be carved into hair ornaments for ladies – a craft called bekko.


Through his travels Safina cites several cases that underscore how difficult (and counter-intuitive) it can be to formulate a sustainable and effective conservation strategy. For example, in Malaysia, the Leatherback population has plummeted from 10 to 15 thousand adult females and 3,000 annual nesters in the 1950s to virtually zero today. For 50 years almost every egg was taken and when finally artificial incubation was tried out wrong temperature control produced either all females or sterile intersex individuals. 


In Florida, beachfront high-rises and luxury condos that adhere to a strict night-time “light curfew" offer a safe backdrop for hatchlings crawling towards the sea. The open beaches close to the towns disorient them, the hatchlings mistaking the light-polluted land horizon for the real one. Having evolved on Earth where for millions of years the horizon is the brightest pre-dawn area, for the turtles such disorientation means almost certain death. Clearly, there is no substitute for accurate scientific knowledge, more often than not gained painstakingly on the field. Romantic greenhearts take note. Throughout the book Safina succeeds in seamlessly relating the plight of the species to the larger issues and threats that plague the oceans and touches upon the other surviving sea turtles as well – the Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas), Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata), Flatback (Natator depressus), Loggerhead (Caretta caretta), Kemp's Ridley (Lepidochelys kempii) and Olive Ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea).


Safina’s prose is mellifluous and evokes the beauty and mystery of the sea. One of the most poignant passages in the book, just after he has described the newly hatched Leatherbacks on their first swim, full of life and oblivious to the threats that await them every single moment of their lives, summarizes the moment of extinction, “The end of a species comes as tranquilly as this gentle sunrise. There’s no final struggle, no valorous last stand or terminal flourish. Just one final puff of breath, then mere absence. No creature mourns its own passing. The grief and the consequence lie solely with us, but few feel the loss.”


The book is one of the finest on natural history I have read and a must-read. It is guaranteed to make you fall in love with the oceans and their denizens especially the large brooding  vagabonds of the blue – the Leatherback.


Reviewed by Sahastrarashmi

It's House Sparrow Day, but where have all the houses gone?

Much has been made of the "extinction" of house sparrows. Rural countrysides where farmers practice agriculture traditional crop cycles still have sizeable populations of the birds. At dusk, small trees tremble with fluttering boarders settling in to roost. Their frenzied chirruping, like the jingle of millions of coins in thousands of fists, mounts to a crescendo just before daylight fades away.

What's the real reason for the decline of house sparrows? Wait, is it really a decline? Or is just that the populations have moved elsewhere? Is there a real reason for alarm, or are we inclined to jump to romantically motivated conclusions regarding the absence of these birds from our cities? Should we point fingers at electromagnetic radiation from microwave towers? Or unleaded petrol, which contains the anti-knocking agent Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (which is known to be fatal to insects with which adult sparrows feed their young)? Or the decline of traditional architecture that offered nest-friendly eaves? Does it have to do with the pesticide content in our foodgrains? Or the profusion of crows? 

Theories abound but, as of now, no one knows for sure. Meanwhile, let's persist with those nest boxes.

Researchers teach birds: 'Be afraid, be very afraid'

Do all birds possess an instinct to flee predators? Or is this behaviour a result of conditioning? Research on some island birds has shown their inability to recognise mammalian predators. This may offer an explanation into how native species in island ecosystems that have evolved in the absence of mammalian predators may have hastened their extinction. Case in point: the Dodo on Mauritius. Although the bird was large and ungainly with few escape tricks, it may have also been unfamiliar with danger and this may have made it, figuratively speaking, a sitting duck for the rats and dogs and cats that arrived with the first sailors. The presence of this trait in island birds could adversely impact reintroduction programmes of threatened native bird species. Returning these birds into their predator-infested habitats is fraught with peril at the outset. 'Be afraid, be very afraid' is the survival mantra that researchers are now teaching birds. And how? By attempting to mix birds from predator-free areas with birds who know how to recognise predators in an enclosure. Researchers hope that the fearless birds would learn the fear response from their conditioned friends. PhysOrg has more Technorati Tags: conditioning, bird behaviour, research, fear, predator

Can crows become extinct?

Crows are among the hardiest of our planet's birds. Most species of corvids, a group that includes choughs, jays, treepies, magpies and nutcrackers, are intelligent, adaptable and aggressive. They dominate their environment and make the most of available resources. Of all corvids, crows are particularly fascinating. They are extremely vocal with a range of calls, and they are facile at employing cunning and opportunism to hunt and forage. They are mostly gregarious and take great advantage of strength in numbers. It is not uncommon to see crows using tools or mobbing birds much larger than themselves, such as eagles, into abandoning their kills. In most places they frequent, they are also numerous. In cities, garbage disposal in open landfills and streetside litters have kept crow numbers more than healthy. An overpopulation of crows is injurious to other species, particularly those birds that are vulnerable as prey species. The resulting ecological imbalance can be disastrous. In Singapore, crows are so hated that they are frequently culled. So, then, can crows actually become extinct? That question has been answered. At least one species of crow is already extinct in the wild. The last wild 'Alala or Hawaiian Crow (Corvus hawaiiensis) was recorded in 2002. A few individuals survive among captive populations and an optimistic reintroduction plan is underway. The species was once abundant in the montane habitats of the Hawaiian islands but disease, chiefly the West Nile Virus carried by migratory shorebirds and introduced species, is believed to have wiped them out. Shooting by farmers, predation and competition for habitat by introduced species had also contributed to its decline. Image: Hawaiian Crow (Corvus hawaiiensis). Source: Wikipedia

With a wave of his hand, the Panamanian golden frog...

BBC reports: The Panamanian golden frog communicates with other frogs by semaphore in the form of gentle hand waves. It has evolved the mechanism to signal to rivals and mates above the noise of mountain streams. Shortly after filming for the BBC One series Life In Cold Blood, the frogs had to be rescued from the wild, due to the threat of chytrid fungus. Hilary Jeffkins, senior producer of Life In Cold Blood, said the semaphoring behaviour of the Panamanian golden frog was very unusual. "Normally, frogs would croak to get their message across but it's too noisy," she said. "An extra mechanism they've evolved is to wave to each other." The frogs (Atelopus zeteki) were filmed at a remote location in the Panamanian rainforest. The population had all but disappeared because of a fungus that grows on the amphibians' skin and suffocates them. The film crew was disinfected - to stop them from carrying the disease - and managed to capture unique footage of the frogs in the wild. Just after filming was completed in June 2006, the location was overtaken by the chytrid fungus. Scientists were forced to remove the remaining frogs from the wild and keep them in captivity. Hilary Jeffkins added: "The whole species is now extinct in Panama - this was one of the last remaining populations. It's its final wave in our programme." Chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) is a major contributor to the decline of amphibian populations around the world, threatening many species with extinction. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7219803.stm My friend Gopi Sundar sends an update: "In the Western Ghats, there is an endemic genera called Micrixalus that also has intricate leg-waving. It's quite amazing to watch." In a 2004 article, BBC had warned that "as many as 122 [amphibian] species may have become extinct since 1980 and a third of known amphibians face oblivion."