An alternative technique for the long-term satellite tracking of leatherback turtles

摘要: The satellite transmitter fixed on a harness was, until short time ago, the commonly used attachment technique to follow oceanic movements of soft-shelled leatherback turtle Dermo- chelys coriacea. However, harnesses have recently been reported potential welfare impact during long-term deployments in this species. Here, we present first (3 mo) monitoring 2 turtles tracked with transmitters directly attached carapace and compare tracking data 3 other turtles, that were concurrently satellite-tracked traditional harnesses. There significantly more good quality locations recorded for carapace-equipped than harnesses, which suggests is better carapace. mean locomotor travel rate (i.e. turtle's own motion taking current drift into account) was 16% slower (0.50 ± 0.01 0.59 0.02 m s -1 , respec- tively) dives 12% shorter (23.2 0.8 26.3 min, respectively) carapace- equipped but all similar depth (87.0 3.1 80.7 2.9 m, respectively). Despite our small sample sizes, these results suggest marked hydrodynamic leatherback's swimming diving capabilities, stress need further developments improve while reducing constraints