Annie & Luis: an amazing journey of two sea turtles

ABOUT

Annie & Luis are two large loggerhead sea turtles that were released back into the ocean 14 January 2021.

Annie had been at our sea turtle rehabilitation centre since July 2019. She was found on Noordhoek beach by a member of the public, entangled in an old fishing net. But what made this story interesting was that a young seal was entangled in the net with her. Lucky for both of them the net washed ashore and they were found. Annie was weak and dehydrated, and did not eat for a full five months while she was in rehab with us. She also has gas trapped in her body, which makes her swim with her bum up. We like to call it ‘bubble butt’. To try and treat the bubble butt, Annie was moved into the Aquarium’s Ocean Exhibit. It has not cured it, however soon after Annie was put into the large exhibit, she finally started eating. More recently, Annie visited a human hospital for a CT scan, so that we could see whether her strange bum up posture would be a problem for her. It seems that she is otherwise a perfectly healthy turtle and was released with 22 other turtles 14 January 2021. She has been equipped with a satellite tag, which means we will be able to track her for the next two years or so. We will post regular updates on her journey.

Luis is a large loggerhead turtle who was found off the coast of Hout Bay, Cape Town, floating in the water. In June 2020, the crew of of a local fishing vessel called our turtle team and were advised that they should try and get Luis onto their boat. Our team met them in the harbour and brought him back to our rehab centre. At first Luis did not show any obvious injuries or ill health, and was strong and active. After a few days, however we noticed a small, but deep hole in his upper carapace. A goose barnacle had attached itself to his shell. The wound was quite deep, resulting in an infection, which is most likely what caused Luis to float in the ocean and offer no resistance when the boat crew took him on board. We treated Luis’ wound with an ingenious lunch box contraption, which kept the wound dry so that it can heal. Turtle shells can heal well, but it takes time. Luis is very evidently a male loggerhead, with a long tail. All turtles have tails, but only males have very long ones. We estimate that he is between 20 and 25-years old and has many more years to grow bigger. The hole in Luis’ carapace fully healed and, fittingly, he was released off Hout Bay back into the ocean. Luis has been tagged with a satellite tracker, which means we will be able to follow his journey, wherever it may lead him. 

Together these turtles have travelled almost 9 000 km in just 49 days. Join us for a Q&A with our CEO, Maryke Musson, where you can ask her more questions about Annie, Luis and traveling sea turtles in general.