Abstract
Green turtles, Chelonia mydas were artificially imprinted with morpholine or phenylethanol prior to behavior investigations using an automated monitoring tank. Another group of turtles was not exposed to chemicals. Morpholine and phenylethanol were seperately metered into two compartments of the 4-choice tank and the other two compartments were untreated controls. Individual's total entries, time spent and average time spent responses to chemically treated and untreated water were recorded and analyzed. When considered together, turtles treated with either morpholine or phenylethanol both in the nest and holding tank water spent a significantly longer average time in water treated with the chemical to which they were imprinted as compared to the non-imprinting chemical. MPP turtles spent a significantly longer average time in morpholine-treated water compared to phenylethanol-treated water. Although statistically non-significant, PPP turtles spent a longer average time in phenylethanol-treated water as compared to morpholine-treated water. Importantly, MPP and PPP turtles responses to water treatments were statistically different. This demonstrated that the chemosensory experience of hatchling sea turtles affects their subsequent behavior. It is suggested that chemosensory imprinting could be an important mechanism involved in sea turtle's return to their natal beach for mating and nesting. Furthermore, because only individuals in groups treated both in the nest and holding tank exhibited this response, exposure to imprinting cues both in the nest and after entering the sea appear to be important if artificial imprinting is to be used as a conservation technique. Kemp's ridley turtles artificially imprinted to seawater from their natal beaches, did not respond to these seawater samples in the experimental rank. Out of 4 investigations of sea turtle chemosensory behavior (including an experiment investigating responses of Kemp's ridleys to natural seawater) only this experiment failed to delineate any differences in response among chemosensory cues. Because Ridley turtles were unresponsive and reliability of the statistical comparisons was dependent on activity, validity of the results is questionable. Low turtle activity could be related to the unusually low hatchling success rate of the Kemp's Ridley Recovery Project, where some of the animals were obtained.
Grassman, Mark Alle (1984). The Chemosensory behavior of juvenile sea turtles : implications for chemical imprinting. Texas A&M University. Texas A&M University. Libraries. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /DISSERTATIONS -589345.