Last November, as winter weather began to grip the East Coast, nine sea turtles were found stranded on a beach in Brewster, Massachusetts, after icy temperatures left them cold-stunned and sickly.
The rescued turtles were briefly kept at the New England Aquarium before they were flown down to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center in Jekyll Island, Georgia.
At the center, the cold-stunned sea turtles were able to continue their rehabilitation with food, water, and necessary medical attention. The staff soon named after different types of tea: Chai, Boba, Darjeeling, Matcha, Jasmine, Peppermint, Chamomile, Oolong, and Earl Grey.
But it was the last sea turtle that gave the staff members pause. Although Earl Gray was first registered as a loggerhead, his physical appearance was incredibly unusual.
“We noticed Earl Grey’s beak was more hooked and their shell shape was more round, both traits associated [with] Kemp’s ridley sea turtles,” the Georgia Sea Turtle Center wrote on social media.
That’s when the staff decided to run a genetic test on Earl Grey.
And they were floored by the results.
“The genetic results are in!” The center shared in an Instagram video on March 19. “Our patient, Earl Grey, is a first-generation hybrid, with a loggerhead father and a Kemp’s ridley mother!”
While hybrid sea turtles are rare to spot in the wild, Early Grey is especially unique. He is one-half Kemp’s ridley — the smallest and most endangered sea turtle species in the world.
“[I]t doesn’t happen often,” Georgia Sea Turtle Center wrote. “More and more research is being done on the turtle population.”
Earl Grey’s story quickly went viral, making headlines across the country.
In an interview with Popular Science, Jaynie L. Gaskin — the director of the Georgia Sea Turtle Center — said that hybrid sea turtles like Earl Grey present a bevy of questions.
“There is still so much to learn from hybrid individuals like this. Questions remain around how these turtles behave and develop over time: Where do they nest, what do they eat, and where do they move through different life stages?” Gaskin explained.
“Each confirmed case helps scientists better understand how these animals are adapting in the wild — and ensures that conservation strategies can evolve alongside them.”
Although the answers remain unclear, Gaskin said that hybridization is largely beneficial to the animal kingdom.
“From an evolutionary perspective, hybridization could be one of many ways genetic diversity is introduced into a population,” Gaskin said. “We encourage other rehabilitation facilities to consider genetic testing for any suspected hybrid sea turtles, as there may be more individuals than we currently realize!”
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Header image via the Georgia Sea Turtle Center / Instagram
