One of world’s most endangered creatures nested on SC beach this year, DNA test shows

A series of DNA tests has revealed one of the world’s rarest sea turtles unexpectedly found its way to South Carolina to lay eggs this season, according to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.

The same tests also found a nest belonging to an unusual hybrid sea turtle, the state said in an Oct. 24 Facebook post.

“Samples from sea turtle nests on South Carolina beaches showed one nest laid this season by a Kemps ridley, the rarest sea turtle in the world ... and, even more unusual, one laid by a loggerhead-hawksbill hybrid sea turtle!” the post said.

“This would be the first record of such a hybrid north of Florida. Unfortunately, this turtle’s nest was destroyed by Hurricane Isaias, spoiling our opportunity to learn more about hybrid sea turtles.”

The state didn’t identify the locations of the nests.

The two rare nestings were among about 5,500 sea turtle nests counted in South Carolina this year, “putting 2020 on par with similarly high counts in 2015 and 2017,” the state said in an Oct. 22 Tweet.

The DNA tests were conducted as part of a project by Dr. Brian Shamblin, an assistant research scientist at the University of Georgia, the state said.

This marks only the fifth time a Kemps ridley turtle nest has been found in the state, officials said. Kemps ridley is considered the world’s smallest sea turtle, growing to no more than 2.3 feet and 100 pounds, NOAA Fisheries reports.

“Ninety-five percent of worldwide Kemp’s ridley nesting occurs in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico,” NOAA reports.

“The primary ongoing threat to Kemp’s ridley sea turtles is bycatch in fishing gear. Kemp’s ridleys are primarily caught in shrimp trawls, but also in recreational fishing gear, gill nets, traps and pots, and dredges in the Gulf of Mexico and northwest Atlantic,” NOAA reports.

South Carolina has been “monitoring sea turtle nesting activities and strandings” since the late 1970s, according to Seaturtle.org. The state’s beaches are known mostly as a nesting site for “loggerheads, green turtles, leatherbacks,” the site says.

South Carolina’s efforts to boost sea turtle nesting made international news earlier in the month, when the town of Kiawah Island reported a rare white sea turtle hatched on its beach. The baby had Leucism “a condition where animals have reduced pigmentation,” Kiawah officials said on Facebook.

This story was originally published October 26, 2020 at 1:57 PM with the headline "One of world’s most endangered creatures nested on SC beach this year, DNA test shows."