This turtle loves Chagar Hutang
Sean Augustin, New Straits Times 25 May 08;
KUALA TERENGGANU: For the past 15 years, "Little Princess" has been a regular visitor to Chagar Hutang - a beach in the northernmost part of Pulau Redang.
Little Princess, however, is not a tourist drawn by the island's serene waters. She's a Hawksbill turtle which made the site her favourite nesting place.
First tagged in 1993, Little Princess has returned to the island in 1996, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2006 and earlier this year.
She has dug up 27 nests to lay her eggs. The turtle lays an average of 150 eggs at each nest, though this year saw her laying 360 eggs.
Her six visits are possibly the most frequent returns ever to be documented.
The turtle, believed to be over 40 years' old, was tagged under a programme conducted by Universiti Malaysia Terengganu's (UMT) Turtle Research and Rehabilitation Group. Little Princess was the fourth and last Hawksbill turtle to be tagged in 1993.
Of the other three turtles, two had recorded a single return while the third turtle had turned up thrice at the spot.
It was on her second visit in 1999 that Little Princess was named by a group of students participating in a turtle adoption programme under the Save Our Turtles Outreach Programme.
Two years later, a satellite transmitter was attached on her to track her feeding grounds.
UMT's Turtle Research and Rehabilitation group leader Prof Chan Eng Heng said there was always great joy each time Little Princess made an appearance at Chagar Hutang.
"This means that she has survived the threats that turtles face every day in the ocean from trawlers and getting caught in the nets.
"It also proves that sanctuaries encourage nesting turtles to return to the same site. This in turn highlights the importance of sanctua-ries in the survival of the species.
"It also shows that properly conducted research on sites does not scare off these creatures," she told the New Sunday Times.
Chan said Little Princess had probably been to Chagar Hutang long before she was tagged.
Turtles, she said, were creatures of habit and would normally return to the same nesting ground, especially if left undisturbed.
