Bob the Green Turtle holds a dear spot in our hearts but a recent revelation has us even more excited for her future; yes her, turns out Bob is a girl!!!
South Africa (04 May 2023) – Did you know that male and female green turtles are near identical? It is rather difficult to accurately sex them as their genitalia looks similar and DNA is indistinguishable. One way to accurately check, is to run a testosterone test. When the Two Oceans Aquarium started Bob the Green Turtle’s release, they took blood samples and the results recently revealed that after eight years of thinking Bob was a boy, turns out she is girl.
Laura du Toit shared the breaking news yesterday along with how they managed to make this discovery. There are several factors that made it a little difficult to know for sure. Firstly, Bob has only recently reached sexual maturity. Prior to this, everything is pretty tough to differentiate.
They took Bob’s blood before she was released and put it on ice. The team then started doing research, reading studies and consulting fellow turtle experts to come up with the best method of confirming Bob’s gender.
It came down to a study from 2015 that measured the testosterone of male and female turtles. The study showed that there is a marked difference and that was how the team could get a final answer for Bob.
“It was thrilling to find out that Bob is a female. In the past, we have tried to determine her sex via ultrasound without success. It was so great to get an answer, finally! I was very pleased that the test worked and that we got an accurate result,” – Dr Bernice van Huyssteen
The team are over the moon about the results because it means Bob will head back to the beach where she was hatched, and lay her own eggs someday. It also means because she is wearing a tracker, the team will be able to witness her laying the eggs too!
Lastly, will Bob stay Bob? As she was named for a quirky bodily occurrence (she had a buoyant backend and so she bobbed) instead of a gender, and the fact that she has been Bob forever, the team have decided she will remain Bob.
“There’s a chance Bob will be spotted on the beach when she (hopefully) nests one day, and we could continue our journey with her. We could even retag her to continue tracking her movements! The idea of lots of little Bobbies in the world is an exciting one!” – Talitha Noble, Bob’s primary carer and Turtle Conservation Centre Manager
So, now we can all look forward to Bob making her way onto her nesting beach and laying eggs. With the right amount of luck, they team will be able to track her and watch her on the day she makes her way on shore to lay the next generation of Green Turtles.
by 