A HELPING HAND

It was lucky for the little guy/girl hatchling that we encountered him/her this morning, because he wasn't going anywhere fast once he crawled out of the nest. He appeared to be "handicapped" by a bottom shell that was oversized and kept him from using his flippers to advance over the sand - let alone any seaweed obstructions that he would encounter on his way to the ocean from the nest. After watching him struggle for several minutes to make virtually no progress, some assistance was administered to lift him over about 20 yards of sand and place him on some wet sand near the water. At about the same time this morning, an employee of the EAI, Inc. arrived on a four-wheeler and was flagged down to alert him to the nest that had dispersed several more hatchlings early this morning, as evidenced by the hatchlings tracks. When the EAI employee saw how little progress was being made by the hatchling, he picked him up and turned him over to determine why the hatchling was making almost no progress in the sand. He observation was that the hatchling had an extra big chest shell (I don't remember the official name for that shell plate) and that was what was impeding his progress. There may be a video later to show you this "struggle to the sea" that we observed. To expedite the hatchling's progress - and his survival, the EAI employee placed the hatchling in the ocean several steps out after the waves broke. Another one saved!