what is it actually like to be a sea turtle biologist one morning i was at a seaside diner in florida
and i was having breakfast when i could see from my seat that a fisherman on the dock had hooked
a little sea turtle so naturally i ran out there to help and help get the turtle unhooked and ran
up to the fisherman's side and it said it's okay i'm a sea turtle biologist and he said kind of
squinting as he turned up looked at me really i said yeah really so we got the turtle unhooked
and freed the turtle but this little event made me wonder what do people actually think a sea turtle
biologist does now assuming that you know being a sea turtle biologist is not some mythical job you
might be picturing someone snorkeling alongside a turtle in tranquil blue waters or maybe someone
at seaworld in a tank feeding a bunch of plump sea turtles but not just for you mr fisherman but also
for all you budding biologists out there here's what it's actually like to be a sea turtle biologist
let's start with some of the less desirable bits as a sea turtle biologist i actually
spend a lot of time away from sea turtles at my computer analyzing data writing and
editing scientific papers preparing figures for conferences writing reports and even writing
computer code in the terminal window you know that blue screen with the white boxy letters
oh you know in jurassic park when samuel L tries to crack newman's computer virus
no anyway a ginormous part of sea turtle science and conservation and science in
general is actually spent tick tick ticking away at our computers this part of being a
sea turtle biologist is not for the uncommitted as a sea turtle biologist i also spend quite a
lot of time in another fluorescent cave the lab analyzing samples running experiments
building contraptions that you might use in the field mixing chemicals pipetting stuff lab work
is definitely tedious but it's what turns those hard-earned field samples into actual data okay
so the field the field is essentially wherever a biologist goes to study plants or animals in
the wild and this is probably where a lot of you think a sea turtle biologist tends to hang out
for a sea turtle biologist the field might be a pristine beach or coral reef or a seagrass meadow
or maybe even the open ocean basically anywhere that's pristine and beautiful but not too cold
that's right as a sea turtle biologist i spend a lot of time in pretty pristine places looking
for sea turtles and you're probably thinking sign me up right well before i get to the truly
wonderful parts about studying sea turtles in the field here are a couple things you might want to
know like many sea turtle biologists i study sea turtles on nesting beaches mama turtles like to
lay their eggs at night and in the summer which means that to stay up all night long sometimes
till seven in the morning and then sleep during the sweltering heat of the summer days what's that
air conditioning not in the field sometimes be really rough as a sea turtle biologist
intense sleep deprivation is just part of daily life here's another fun tidbit
the coastal areas where sea turtles like to nest and hang out are also great breeding areas for
biting insects mosquitoes flies sand gnats ticks i've had nights in the nesting beach where the
bugs are so bad it makes me second guess every step of my life that got me to that point or maybe
gonna rip my eyeballs out and i don't even work in the tropics where sea turtle biologists risk
malaria dengue fever yellow fever chagas you name it as a sea turtle biologist being an involuntary
blood donor an occasional parasitic host is just something you have to get used to at this point
i'm gonna kind of skim over persistent dangers like biting plants scorpions spiders snakes
crocodilians in some places jaguars and gorillas not the gorillas with the know you're thinking of
and talk about the more vomit-inducing parts of the job yay vomit it's actually pretty normal
for a sea turtle biologist to take up a knife and necropsy turtles that are found dead in our study
areas now a turtle that's been floating in the ocean for a couple days gets pretty nasty pretty
quickly and that can test even some of the strongest stomachs and the same goes for nest
inventories digging up and popping open unhatched eggs that have been in the ground for 70 days
can be pretty vile to say the least actually on my project we call those things vomitoriums as
a sea turtle biologist testing your vomit reflex in the name of science is just part of the game so
being a sea turtle biologist is not all rainbows and butterflies more like coffee binges and bot
flies it can be difficult grueling blood draining and downright gross but it can also be supremely
rewarding as a sea turtle biologist i get to live in the forest and work on the beach i get to watch
every sunset and sunrise and i get to patrol the beach under the moon and stars every night
as a sea turtle biologist i get to watch adult turtles that might be 50 or 60 years old
emerge from the ocean or crawl up the beach to lay their eggs i mean you can see the contractions you
can hear their breaths and then a couple months later i get to watch hatching turtles boil up
out of the sand and race to the ocean these are ancient awe-inspiring rituals and biology
that i get to see multiple times a year that some people never seen their entire lives and i get to
do it for my job as a sea turtle biologist whether it's at my desk in the lab or on the beach i get
to feel a real sense of purpose and whatever it is that i'm doing that it will help sea
turtle survive if it's writing a research paper to inform a conservation action or talking to a group
of high school students about plastic pollution i'm inspired by the fact that what i'm doing is
making a difference and last and probably the most rewarding as a sea turtle biologist i get to share
sea turtles and science with others like a lot of projects around the world my project involves
volunteers that come to see the turtles help with the research to be able to go on the beach and
look for a nesting turtle and show it to people and to see a group of hatchlings go to the water
is a truly unique privilege on top of that i get to teach people how to collect data
and i get to talk about how science works i get to foster an appreciation for the value
of science not just in seattle conservation but also in all aspects of human life and so with that
to you mr fisherman and to you budding sea turtle biologist i hope you have a better idea of what
it's actually like to be a sea turtle biologist hey everyone thanks for watching my video i hope
you liked it if you did don't forget to share this video if you're watching it on a social media feed
don't forget to like us and follow us on youtube um also don't forget if you if you're interested
in the sea turtle work that i'm doing check out my project's website at www.caretta
researchproject.org that's c-a-r-e-t-t-a um thanks a bunch watch some more videos