Famous sea turtle to go free
21 YEARS IN CAPTIVITY: MATURE ADULT AQUARIUM GOT AS BABY IS READY TO BREED
Loggerhead turtle will swim back to beach where she was born to lay eggs.
Yoshi, a loggerhead turtle, is one of the most famous and loved inhabitants of Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town, but now it’s time to let her go.
Renee Leeuwner, communications and media executive at the aquarium, said they will release her into the ocean between the end of November and midDecember.
“The release is completely dependent on the weather and the warm ocean currents moving in closer to Cape Point,” said Leeuwner. “We do not have a definite date and we really won’t know until the weather patterns are more clear. Until then, we will continue to exercise her and prepare her for her release.”
Yoshi has been the star of the aquarium for many years but all the signs are there that it is time to return her to the wild.
“Nothing will make us happier than to see this beloved animal thrive in the open ocean, even though the farewell will be bittersweet,” said Leeuwner.
Yoshi was confiscated from a boat in Table Bay Harbour in 1996 after she was caught in a trawler’s fishing net. When she arrived at the aquarium, she was the size of a dinner plate. It was estimated she was about three to five years old at the time, making her between 24 and 26 now.
Considering Yoshi’s age and the new behaviour she is exhibiting, the aquarium’s curatorial team, led by curator Maryke Musson, decided it’s time for her to be released.
Musson said: “She is within the sexual maturity range now, which is between 18 and 30 years for loggerhead turtles, and we have observed her scratching at the sand in the I&J Ocean Exhibit, possibly mimicking nest-digging behaviour that one might see in the wild. Loggerhead turtles live for between 80 and 100 years and as Yoshi is fit and healthy, there is no reason for us to keep her with us any longer.”
Renowned SA turtle expert and author of Between the Tides: In Search of Sea Turtles, Dr George Hughes said: “I am pleased to hear that Yoshi is due for release. Yoshi is a splendid representative of the fact that in South Africa disinterest is not a factor that will threaten her survival.
“Yoshi is the embodiment of all the care and concern that South Africans, and especially the staff of Two Oceans Aquarium, uShaka Marine World in Durban and Bayworld in Port Elizabeth, have lavished on her species when mischance has put them in their hands.
“Once she is released, our hopes go with her that she will avoid misuse and exploitation during the long swim to her eventual feeding and nesting grounds, and our wishes that her success will help contribute to the legendary survival of her kind.”
Scientists believe these turtles are able to detect the earth’s geomagnetic field and so determine longitude and latitude. This mechanism helps female sea turtles return to the beach where they hatched to lay their eggs.
Musson said: “We are very confident that Yoshi will return to where she’s from to carry on her lineage. She arrived at the aquarium broken and lost and it is amazing to know that we contributed to giving her that one in a 1 000 chance of reaching reproductive age. She is a legend and has been part of our turtle conservation and rehabilitation story for many years.
“From tracking the hawksbill turtles, Otto and Winston, post-release, we gained confidence our rescue turtles can continue life successfully in their natural environment. Otto swam to Madagascar, Winston swam to Gabon.
“I cannot wait to see where Yoshi goes. She is ready to cross oceans. We will follow her every move as long as we get satellite transmission and the National Sea Rescue Institute is on standby should she need any assistance.”
Like all sea turtle species, loggerheads are endangered animals. Despite the deluge of eggs they produce, only about one in 1 000 loggerhead turtle hatchlings survive to maturity. – Caxton News Service