Vertical and horizontal habitat preferences of post-nesting leatherback turtles in the South Pacific Ocean.

The article discusses a research study on South Pacific Ocean leatherback turtles and their horizontal and vertical habitat post-nesting preferences. Study subjects include 436 leatherback turtles tagged with satellite relay data logger (SRDL) of the Sea Mammal Research Unit (SMRU) while 10 turtles were tagged with Wildlife Computer Smart Position Only (SPOT) satellite transmitters from 2004 to 2007 at Playa Grande, Costa Rica for behavioral mode interpretation and track interpolation. Results showed a total of 13,038 distance of movements during the period, while a post-nesting dive depth of 42,234 was recorded for 35 turtles and horizontal movements were from a range of 355 to 7,286 kilometers.