Here's The Not-So-Glamorous Reason Why Scientists Made Swimwear For These Turtles

by N/A, 9 years ago | 1 min read

The turtles are now swimming in style.

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Researchers in Australia are hoping to learn more about the habitat and diet of loggerhead sea turtles.

They're doing so by studying their poop. While that may not be entirely glamorous or exciting, the scientists from the University of Queensland are doing this by creating some adorable little outfits for the loggerheads. In order to collect the samples, they've made them little swimsuits.Â

This results of this study are important to the researchers because loggerheads are an endangered and vulnerable species.

They're threatened by hunters who use their meat and eggs, plastics pollution, habitat destruction, artificial lighting on beaches and fishing nets.

The researchers captured six loggerheads and placed them in seawater tanks at the Moreton Bay Research Station.

The study proved to be difficult at first, because they were using a flexible funnel on the turtles shells, which wasn't super efficient when it came to collecting a sample. PhD student Owen Coffee went to a thrift store and picked up some old t-shirts and was able to cut them up and fashion these little outfits for the turtles.Â

Once the study is completed, the turtles are released back to their home in Moreton Bay.