CAPE COD, Mass. — Marine biologists on the Cape are equipping five large sea turtles with satellite tags on Sunday ahead of their release back into the ocean on Monday morning.
The technology will allow scientists to track the turtles' travels and unravel the mystery of where they go.
The massive brown-shelled loggerheads, who can weigh anywhere between 50 to 120 pounds each, were pulled from their tanks in the New England Aquarium's sea turtle hospital in Quincy on Sunday morning.
The tag was applied by drying their shells, slightly sanding off a small area on top and so the wallet-sized tags could be glued on top and an antennae attached.
After the glue was dried up, they were taken back to their tanks where they will stay until Monday morning before they are transported to a Cape beach for release.
The turtles, who have not seen the ocean in six months, will be tracked by the sophisticated GPS technology that will transmit the turtle's location and diving data many times a day when they surface for air.
Marine biologists are interested in finding out exactly where and how long do those turtles feed are the Cape in the summer. Later, when they are ready to migrate south, some of them may head down to Florida while others might swim east to spend the winter in the warm Gulf Stream.
The tags are expected to last for six to nine months before they fall off.
All the five sea turtles were stranded in the Cape last November and December because of hypothermia and other life-threatening medical conditions. Brick Red, Blue Bell, Laser Lemon, Banana Mania and Pink Sherbert will all be returned to the wild now that they're rehabilitated and ready to go back to swimming in the ocean!
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