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The Geomagnetic Environment In Which Sea Turtle Eggs Incubate Affects Subsequent Magnetic Navigation Behaviour Of Hatchlings, Matthew J. Fuxjager, Kyla R. Davidoff, Lisa A. Mangiamele, Kenneth J. Lohmann

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings (Caretta caretta) use regional magnetic fields as open-ocean navigational markers during trans-oceanic migrations. Little is known, however, about the ontogeny of this behaviour. As a first step towards investigating whether the magnetic environment in which hatchlings develop affects subsequent magnetic orientation behaviour, eggs deposited by nesting female loggerheads were permitted to develop in situ either in the natural ambient magnetic field or in a magnetic field distorted by magnets placed around the nest. In orientation experiments, hatchlings that developed in the normal ambient field oriented approximately south when exposed to a field that exists near the …