Discovery log

2003

The longest migration ever tracked in a sea turtle

In July 2003, Scott Benson's team fitted satellite tags on leatherback turtles nesting on Jamursba-Medi beach in West Papua, Indonesia. One of them was tracked for 647 days, travelling at least 20,558 kilometres across the Pacific to feeding grounds off Oregon, USA, before starting the journey back. Published in 2007, the study documents one of the longest migrations ever recorded in a marine vertebrate.

• 🌊Pacific Ocean
• ↓Epipelagic zone
• ↓Mesopelagic zone
• ↓Bathypelagic zone