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Marine biologist Dr. Nathan Robinson went viral over a decade ago for a video of him removing a straw from a sea turtle’s nostril. However, Dr. Robinson is so much more than that viral moment. He has dedicated his career to studying and helping marine life. One way he does so is through TurtleCam, cameras safely attached to sea turtle shells that capture their behavior and habitat in remarkable detail.
Dr. Robinson is no stranger to using cameras for cutting-edge science. As PetaPixel reported back in 2019, Dr. Robinson was part of the crew that recorded a live giant squid on camera for the first time ever in U.S. waters.
Scientists routinely attach cameras to animals to better understand them and their habitats without putting themselves or the animals at risk. It’s also challenging to get clean data when in a habitat with a wild animal. In 2024, scientists attached cameras to polar bears, sadly learning that the bears were on track to starve.
TurtleCam captures footage much closer to the surface, following sea turtles as they swim around in the Bahamas. The videos, which have gotten renewed attention in recent weeks, including at BBC Wildlife Magazine, are as fun to watch as they are important to scientists like Robinson.
“Our goal with the TurtleCam project was to show from a first-person (or should that be first-turtle) perspective how sea turtles swim through the oceans,” Robinson told BBC Wildlife Magazine.
The camera system is novel. Scientists attach TurtleCam to sea turtles using a quick-release mechanism that corrodes in seawater, breaking apart after a few hours of swimming. At this point, the turtle’s shell is perfectly back to normal, and the camera can be retrieved.
The team gathered over 200 hours of footage from 61 different TurtleCams, and the data has been extremely useful, helping shed new light on the previously mysterious social behaviors of sea turtles, what and how they eat, how they react to threats, and even their breathing behavior.
As Robinson explained earlier this month on his Instagram page, thanks to TurtleCam, researchers found that sea turtles actually exhale before diving in shallow water, which keeps them negatively buoyant and able to rest on the seafloor. This is not only interesting, but it is also directly relevant to conservation efforts, as it means, “paradoxically,” that sea turtles caught in nets in shallow water are at greater risk of drowning than those caught in deeper waters.
Beyond its scientific value, the TurtleCam footage is just downright fun to watch. Sea turtles are beloved for many reasons, not the least of which is their charm and character, which have rarely been documented as well as they are by TurtleCam. Who doesn’t want to follow along with a sea turtle as it swims around the ocean floor?
Image credits: Dr. Nathan J. Robinson
English (US) ·