Recent News

Azu Beastro: Introducing Arugula and Chef Sam Crew
Wednesday, July 01, 2015

From the fresh local farm produce, to the fresh herbs being grown right on the café’s patio overlooking Harrington Sound, diners at the Azu Beastro are certain to be delighted with the delectable options being created by the restaurant’s new concession holder, Arugula.


The Trunk Island Campaign: Investing in the Future
Wednesday, July 01, 2015

It was once unusual for the formal education of children to occur anywhere besides within the four-walls of the classroom, but today, there is a broader view on how teaching should occur, taking into account the whole child and diverse learning needs.


Creating Innovative Classes to Enhance School Curriculum
Wednesday, July 01, 2015

There has been increasing interest in educational circles in developing interdisciplinary STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programmes that not only teach students about scientific method in the classroom, but also how it can be applied in real life experiences.


Curator’s Corner
Wednesday, July 01, 2015

Firstly, we’d like to thank you for your patience over the last several months. The replacement of the Aquarium roof has gone very well and we’re extraordinarily happy with the end product.


Scholarship recipient tracking Longtails
Wednesday, July 01, 2015

BZS/Steinhoff Scholarship recipient Miguel Mejias, a Biology student at Memorial University in St. John’s, Newfoundland, has been undertaking some very interesting and exciting research on White-tailed Tropicbirds (Phaethon lepturus catesbyi), better known to most Bermudians as the “Longtail”.



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All the latest updates and news from the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo, one of Bermuda's leading visitor attractions!

Unlocking the Secrets of Sea Turtle Migration
Newswise
Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Released: 2/29/2012 9:35 AM EST 
Source: Dick Jones Communications

Newswise — Sea turtles have long and complex lives; they can live into their 70s or 80s and they famously return to their birthplace to nest. But new research suggests this isn’t the only big migration in a sea turtle’s life.

“We’re starting to realize that developmental migrations -- ones that sea turtles make before they mature -- are even more amazing,” says Dr. Peter Meylan, professor of natural sciences at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. “They only do it one time, but it can be much longer than the reproductive migrations they do as adults and may involve tens of thousands of kilometers.”

Meylan has been tagging and tracking sea turtles with his wife, Anne Meylan of the Florida Fish & Wildlife Research Institute, and Jennifer Gray and other colleagues from the Bermuda Aquarium. They have compiled the results of long-term capture programs in Caribbean Panama (17 years) and Bermuda (37 years) in a summary paper, “The Ecology and Migrations of Sea Turtles: Tests of the Developmental Habitat Hypothesis,” in the Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History.

“Bermuda is a place where young turtles go to grow up,” Meylan says. “They arrive there after living out in the ocean. In Bermuda waters they grow from about the size of a dinner plate to the size of a wash tub, and then move on to different, adult habitats.”

For example, some green turtles hatched in Costa Rica were spending their “growing up” years thousands of kilometers away in Barbados, North Carolina and Bermuda before heading off to spend their adulthoods near Nicaragua.

Young turtles have already survived hatching from their untended eggs, escaped hungry predators on their rush to the ocean, and have avoided marine predators once there. This research points to developmental migrations as another vulnerable time for sea turtles.

“Tag-return data from this study suggest that this may be another dangerous time for these turtles, and protection as they move into their adult foraging ranges could be a productive objective of policy change for effective marine turtle conservation,” says Meylan.