A giant sea turtle saved from the dinner table by a Chinese priest swam 3,000km into a sanctuary in Japan, providing researchers with a valuable insight into the species' travel habits.
The priest had carved a message onto the green sea turtle's shell which a Japanese conservation group used to trace its odyssey back to the province of Guangdong in southern China.
Through news reports, the group learned a Buddhist priest bought the turtle in January when it was about to be sold to a restaurant, then released it back into the sea after carving the date and name of his temple on its shell.
PHOTO: AFP
Late last month, the 120kg female turtle swam ashore on one of Japan's Ogasawara islands in the Pacific Ocean, a journey of around 3,000km.
The turtle could not find enough sand to hide its eggs and two days later strayed into an area protected by the Japanese conservation group Everlasting Nature of Asia, where it laid 77 eggs.
"We found out for the first time that green sea turtles from Japan also travel and live in the waters off China, which is important to know," said Hiroyuki Suganuma, chairman of the NGO.
"It is actually not so rare to see turtles bearing a few Chinese characters on the shell," he said.
"Chinese people believe it is good luck to save the life of an animal and release it. But it was unusual to see so many characters, which provided us with a great lead to track down where she travelled from."
China is a major consumer of turtles for food and folk medicine.
(AFP)
一隻幸獲中國比丘搭救才免於成為盤中飧的大海龜死裡逃生後,遠度重洋到三千公里外的日本保育中心,這有助於研究人員深入了解這種海龜遷徙的習性。
那名比丘在這隻綠蠵龜的殼上刻了些訊息,日本保育團體藉此追溯,發現綠蠵龜來自遙遠的中國廣東省。
這個保育團體經由新聞報導得知,一名比丘今年一月買下這隻原本要賣給餐廳的海龜,在龜殼上刻下日期及寺號後,便把牠放生大海。
上個月底,這隻一百二十公斤重的母海龜竟游到了約三千公里外的日本小笠原群島(位於太平洋)上岸。
由於沙量不足無法藏卵,這隻綠蠵龜兩天後闖入日本保育團體「亞洲自然永續機構」照料的保護區內產下七十七顆卵。
「亞洲自然永續機構」屬非政府組織,其會長菅沼弘行說:「我們第一次發現,日本的綠蠵龜也會遷徙到中國外海生活,知道這點很重要。」
他說:「老實說,發現龜殼上刻著幾個中國字並不稀奇。」
「中國人相信,拯救動物生命再將其放生會帶來好運,不過龜殼上刻這麼多字並不常見,那反成了我們追查母龜從何而來的重大線索。」
不論是拿來當食材或藥方,中國都是龜類主要消費國。(法新社/翻譯:林倩如)
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