News

Scientists studying the weeks newly hatched loggerhead turtles spend out at open sea have resorted to manicure techniques in order to attach tiny tags to the animals.

After trying a number of other methods, including a harness nicknamed the “Borat” for its resemblance to the mankini that Sacha Baron Cohen in his movie, they decided upon manicuring techniques as they would impede the turtles’ natural movement the least.

Kate Mansfield, a US National Marine Fisheries Service scientist in Miami, said that after noting a colleague’s pedicure they decided to give “her manicurist a call and her manicurist recommended we use an acrylic base coat. We went out to our local pharmacy and picked some up and tried it on the turtles. We prepped the shell, sanded it down a little bit, buffed it nicely - kind of a turtle spa.”

Despite sounding silly, this is a breakthrough technique for scientists studying loggerhead turtles as there is almost no research available on baby loggerheads’ first few months out at sea.

Read more in the BBC article.