Saturday, February 7, 2009

Turtle Flipper Tags Types used in Seychelles since 1973

The first turtle tags to be applied to turtle nesting in Seychelles were “cow ear tags” or Monel 49 tags. These were donated by Dr. Archie Carr of the University of Florida (Gainesville, Florida USA) to Dr. Tony Diamond, who spent 2 years on Cousin island tagging nesting Hawksbill turtles (Eretmochelys imbricata) with support from International Council for Bird Preservation (ICBP).

Since then, new versions have been developed with improved locking mechanisms and corrosion resistant alloys. Even plastic tags were used at one point.

The following is a list, courtesy of Dr Jeanne Mortimer, of the various types of Turtle flipper tags types used in Seychelles since 1973. These Include:


• Plastic Rototags


• Monel 49 “Cow Ear” Tags
• Monel 4 Tags

• Monel 681 “Hog Ear” Tags
• Aluminium Livestock Tags
• Inconel 681 Tags
• Australian Titanium Turtle Tags


The following tags are most commonly used in Seychelles today. These are purchased by the Seychelles Island Foundation and distributed to all organisations within Seychelles who carry out turtle monitoring programme with the approval of Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources
Images from "Turtle tags and tagging in Seychelles : a brief history" by Dr. Jeanne Mortimer

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