Emmett's Creature of the Month s/v Uliad
On this page, I will tell you about the latest interesting living thing that I have found while sailing around the world. If you have questions about it, you can email me and maybe I will know the answer. --Emmett
On the island of St. Lucia, we went turtle watching one night. We stayed up late and hiked the beach looking for turtle tracks. Finally, we found this leatherback turtle digging its nest. We waited quietly so we didn't disturb her. I got to sneak up behind her to watch her work. I was amazed; her fins are very powerful. After digging a two foot deep hole in the sand, she started laying eggs!
While laying eggs, sea turtles go into a sort of trance. So now we could talk, turn on lights, and take pictures without stressing her. We also got to touch her. Her shell felt dry and rubbery. The naturalists who protect this beach from poachers measured her. The shell was 4 feet, 8 inches long. They said this was on the small side for a leatherback! She laid 83 eggs, then she spent about 45 minutes flipping sand to bury the eggs. Then she crawled back to the sea and left. I felt happy because she had done her job and her babies would hatch soon.
While hiking on the island of Guadeloupe, we found a line of little ants carrying pieces of leaf down the trunk of a tree. It looked like a leaf parade. Leafcutter ants bite off pieces of leaf to carry them back to their nest. They don't eat the leaves, they chew them into a paste. When a fungus starts growing on the leaf paste, they eat that!
We watched them all follow the same path: down the tree, across a stick, over a rock, then into the brush to their nest. Some people call them Parasol Ants because when they carry the leaf over their head it looks like they're holding little parasols to shade themselves from the sun.
Graphic Design by Round the Bend Wizards