WILDLIFE COMPUTER'S 

TINY TURTLE TAGS (TTT)

DEPLOYED

Send Questions to loggerheadstretch@gmail.com

8/17/2025

Seigeiha is the only turtle whose TTT tag uris transmitting right now.  I have put the TTT track and the Splash 10 track together and see that they agree pretty well... so the TTT tag is transmitting good locations.  The question is why aren't the others transmitting.  We are assuming that our attachment is solid so the other possibilities are failure to charge the battery with the thought that the surface of the solar panels might be biofouled.  There could also be issues with the antennas being biofouled and/or damaged... we probably won't ever know.  

The combined tracks of the Splash and the TTT tags are in the center and the individual tracks are copied on the left and right... They correlate quite well!

7/16/2025

Three of the 5 tags are reporting good location data.  I have pulled the three (Sora, Ai and Seigaiha) out and compared their location data to the Spot 6 tag data from the same turtle.  There are in fairly good agreement and seem to be doing fine.

Seigaiha's track from the Spot 6 tag data (orange) and from the TTT tag (gray).

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Sora's tracking data from the spot 6 tag (red) and from the TTT tag (green).

Ai's tracking data from the spot 6 tag (pink) and from the TTT tag (green).

As part of the Cohort III satellite tag attachment project that occurred in Nagoya from June 18 to June 23, 2025 STRETCH was honored to be able to attach some tiny location tags on 5 of our Cohort III Turtles.

The tiny turtle tags, engineered and manufactured by Wildlife Computers , weigh 7 grams (less than 1/4 oz) each and are solar powered by two tiny solar panels and an enclosed battery.  

The 5 Cohort III turtles were released on July 7th along with the other 23 juvenile loggerheads in Cohort III and are now free in the north east Pacific Ocean.  All 28 of the Cohort III turtles are transmitting locations as are all 5 of the TTT tags.  I will track both types of tags on the Cohort III blog post so you can see what the turtles are doing. Cohort III Blog

The 5 tags were attached to the carapace of 5 Cohort III juvenile loggerheads just behind the Splash 10 and Spot 6 tags.  This was the first time we ever attached such a small tag to a turtle and their size and solar panels provided for a difficult/delicate attachment.  Rowan Calder (Wildlive Computers) planned and executed the attachment of the five TTT tags.  So far so good!!!

Please see images below.

Wildlife Computer's TTT tag that weighs only 7 grams (less than 1/4 oz),

Turtle number 63 (Sora) with a Splash 10 tag and a TTT tag prior to having anti-fouling paint applied.

Turtle number 63 (Seiran) with a Splash 10 tag and a TTT tag after anti-fouling paint is applied.

Cohort III juvenile loggerhead number 65 (Heki) with a Spot 6 sat tag and a TTT tag after being painted with anti-fouling paint.