A female green turtle at Huyong Island rests at the drop off

Abstract

This paper gives preliminary results of diving behavior for one female green turtle during an inter-nesting period at Huyong Island in Thailand. A depth/temperature logger was used to examine the habitat utilization of the female green turtle during an inter-nesting period at Huyong Island in Thailand. In general, it has been believed that female turtles during this period rest at shallow water (typically less than 20 m) because they save energy for the nesting activities. However, time-series of depth for the female turtles at Huyong Island indicated that she sometime dived into the deep area (more than 20 m) although she tried to save energy by performing U-shape diving. A relationship between dive depth and dive duration suggests the deep dives were not resting dives. Previous satellite tracking study indicated that they stayed near the Huyong Island during this period. According to these results, female turtle used a reef edge or a drop-off, as their habitat during inter-nesting period.