Satellite tags allow researchers to track the movement of sea turtles as they swim. The "tag" is a walkman-sized mini computer that can be affixed directly to the back of a sea turtle's shell, or that the turtle can wear like a backpack. When the turtle surfaces, the tag emits a signal that allows a satellite to pinpoint the turtle's location.

Because a leatherback turtle's shell is covered with a layer of skin that resists the glues used to affix satellite tags to the shells of other sea turtles, to date, researchers have had the best success using the backpack to equip leatherback turtles with satellite tags.

Biologists adjust the straps of the satellite "backpack" on a leatherback turtle

Satellite tags provide important information about sea turtle migration routes and will help us to understand when and where turtles might be at risk. One leatherback carried a satellite tag for 18 months and biologists learned that it swam from the coast of Trinidad to the North Atlantic and then down the west coast of Africa.  

Until recently, satellite tags were only put on female turtles as they nested on tropical beaches. However, in September 1999, members of the Leatherback Turtle Working Group became the first in the world to  satellite tag a leatherback turtle at sea, and the first to  ever satellite tag a male turtle. "Sherman"'s satellite pack transmitted for 53 days.

   To follow the tracks of NSLTWG turtles, click here.

   Sherman wearing his transmitter

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