Maia the Green Sea Turtle was found injured on the beach and ended up losing a flipper; today, she has made it over 600km to Mozambique.
Durban, South Africa (11 January 2023) – The South African Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR) rescued an injured Green Turtle in December 2020 and today celebrates her success in reaching Mozambique. This is such a success because Maia is missing one of her flippers!
Maia was found in the Isimangaliso Wetland Park in December 2020. She had a plastic bag around her front left flipper that had cut circulation and caused severe necrosis. The damage was so bad that she had to lose some of her flipper, leaving her with a usable stump.
She spent the next two years recovering at the SAAMBR’s Sea Turtle Hospital at uShaka Sea World. Once she was strong enough, the team released her back into the Isimangaliso Wetland Park. She was fitted with a tracker, and they have been watching her progress from afar. In total, she has travelled over 600km so far.
“After extensive rehabilitation, including surgery, antibiotics, various radiographs and lots of tender loving care, Maia recovered beautifully and was medically cleared for release exactly 2 years after her rescue, albeit with one less flipper. It is quite common to see turtles in the wild with partial and even complete flipper amputations, most often due to shark bites or entanglements, so the SAAMBR team was optimistic about returning her to her true home in the ocean.”
“They did not expect however that she was going to be an absolute swimming sensation. Maia was released on the 13th of December, and made her way up to Mozambique by the 21st of December, at an average of a half marathon swim per day! By Christmas day she was already in the warm and beautiful Maputo Bay, an area she seems to really enjoy as she is still criss-crossing this protected site now known as the Maputo National Park which is seen as an extension of the Isimangaliso Wetland Park.” – SAAMBR
Her tracker will hopefully allow the team to monitor her movements for the next year. This will help the team to understand and analyse the post-rehabilitative movement and performance of sea turtles with flipper amputations. The tracker was placed in collaboration with the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.
Maia is travelling towards waters that are rich in diversity. Near to where she is, is Inhaca Island, which has the largest seagrass coverage in the world.
“We are incredibly proud of little Maia’s journey thus far. As a young sea turtle, she still has many years ahead of her before reaching reproductive age, and she could very well decide to hang around in this perfect turtle habitat. The nearest green turtle nesting sites are about 1000 km northeast of her, so not too big a journey, considering how well she travels.” – SAAMBR
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