Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Mamutik Island Hawksbill joy

Kota Kinabalu: Excitement hit the roof when a Hawksbill turtle made a very rare landing at the beach of Pulau Mamutik in Tunku Abdul Rahman Park on Boxing Day (26 December) - to lay eggs.

"It's a huge surprise because in all the 25 years since Borneo Divers was founded, this is the first time I personally witnessed a sea turtle coming ashore to lay eggs at Mamutik," said Clement Lee, the Managing Director of this pioneer diving outfit in the State.

"It happened in the middle of our farewell B-B-Q to a batch of JPSM (Sabah Human Resource Department) candidates who had just completed the Dive Master Course with Borneo Divers Training Institute.

"It came so close to the crowd that we had to clear the area, kept the noise down and shut the lights to allow her to locate her preferred spot to lay eggs," Clement recalled.

She finally chose a spot near the trunk of a young coconut tree.

Female sea turtles are very sensitive to both noise and light when they are about to lay eggs, sometimes turning back to sea because of such disturbances.

"After two hours, she completed her maternal task and began moving back to the sea, watched by all of us as well as a lot of other campers at Mamutik," Clement reported.

He said he alerted Sabah Parks staff and fenced off the "site" and duly filled a fact sheet noting such time and date and taped it to the wire fence for data recording purposes.

Continue reading (Incl. Pic) at: Mamutik Island Hawksbill joy
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