Adelita is the name of the first

sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerh ...

tracked across an

ocean basin In hydrology, an oceanic basin (or ocean basin) is anywhere on Earth that is covered by seawater. Geologically, most of the ocean basins are large  geologic basins that are below sea level. Most commonly the ocean is divided int ...

, the northern

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. A satellite tag was placed on Adelita, a female

loggerhead sea turtle The loggerhead sea turtle (''Caretta caretta'') is a species of sea turtle, oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the Family (biology), family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around ...

(''Caretta caretta''), in 1996 by marine biologist Wallace J. Nichols for a research project. The Adelita tracking project provided the first proof of the trans-Pacific migration of loggerhead sea turtles. Adelita was also the first animal to swim across an ocean while being tracked by a satellite. The 9,000 mile journey of Adelita from Mexico to Japan was featured in the PBS Nature documentary ''Voyage of the Lonely Turtle''. The documentary follows Adelita as she returns to her birthplace in Japan to lay her eggs.

References

External links

Original web siteTracking PageNichols' Blog
* * {{Cheloniidae Sea turtles Individual turtles Individual wild animals Caretta

See also

References

External links