{"pk":5712,"title":"Habitat Selection and Antipredator Behavior in Three Species of Hatchling Sea Turtles","subtitle":null,"abstract":"According to the “lost year” theory of sea turtle development, hatchlings swim offshore in a frenzy until they reach floating weed beds where they live in relative safety for the first few years of life. Direct observations of post hatchlings in nature have been rare, so we utilized very young captive hatchlings presented with open water or artificial weed bed habitats (Experiments 1 and 2). Loggerhead (\nCaretta caretta\n) and hawksbill (\nEretmochelys imbricate\n) hatchlings congregated in the weed bed, but green (\nChelonia mydas\n) hatchlings did not. Green hatchlings that were slightly older and presented with \nsargassum\n continuously did show more tendency to gather in the weeds, particularly at night (Experiment 3). The young green turtles oriented towards the open ocean and congregated in the end of the tank closest to the ocean and actively avoided weeds (Experiments 4 and 5). When hatchlings were given simulated predation experience the loggerheads and hawksbills remained immobile following prediction, but the greens actively swam away (Experiment 6 and 7). These results suggest that the lost year theory of sea turtle development must be refined to take into account species differences and that different species of post hatchlings in nature may be found in different microhabitats, and reacting differently to potential and actual threat of predation.","language":"en","license":{"name":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0","short_name":"CC BY 4.0","text":"Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.\r\n\r\nNo additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0"},"keywords":[{"word":"International Journal of Comparative Psychology"},{"word":"Behavior"},{"word":"Behaviour"},{"word":"learning"},{"word":"Behavioral Taxonomy"},{"word":"cognition"},{"word":"Cognitive Processes"},{"word":"Intelligence"},{"word":"Habitat selection"},{"word":"antipredator behavior"},{"word":"hatchlings"},{"word":"turtle"}],"section":"Research Article","is_remote":true,"remote_url":"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/81m394df","frozenauthors":[{"first_name":"Roger L.","middle_name":"","last_name":"Mellgren","name_suffix":"","institution":"University of Texas at Arlington, U.S.A. and Parque Xcaret, Mexico.","department":"None"},{"first_name":"Martha A.","middle_name":"","last_name":"Mann","name_suffix":"","institution":"University of Texas at Arlington, U.S.A. and Parque Xcaret, Mexico.","department":"None"},{"first_name":"Mark E.","middle_name":"","last_name":"Bushong","name_suffix":"","institution":"University of Texas at Arlington, U.S.A.","department":"None"},{"first_name":"Stacy R.","middle_name":"","last_name":"Harkins","name_suffix":"","institution":"University of Texas at Arlington, U.S.A.","department":"None"},{"first_name":"Vicky L.","middle_name":"","last_name":"Keathley","name_suffix":"","institution":"University of Texas at Arlington, U.S.A.","department":"None"}],"date_submitted":"2009-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_accepted":"2009-05-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2003-12-31T08:00:00Z","render_galley":null,"galleys":[{"label":"","type":"","path":"https://journalpub.escholarship.org/uclapsych_ijcp/article/5712/galley/3467/download/"}]}