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Marine Turtle Newsletter 88:8, © 2000

Marine Turtle Newsletter-Online

Records of Caretta caretta in Mauritania

Christophe Arvy1, Amadou T. Dia2, François Colas2 & Jacques Fretey3
1130bis avenue G. Pompidou, 33500 Libourne, France
2Centre National d’Elevage et de Recherche Vétérinaire (CNERV), BP 1333 Noakchott, R.I. de Mauritanie
3FFSSN Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, 57 rue Cuvier 75231 Paris cedex 05, France
(E-mail: jfretey@imatech.fr)

Knowledge of the current status and biology of the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) in the waters off the west coast of Africa, including Mauritania is lacking. The first mention of loggerhead turtles in Mauritania was at Cap-Blanc, Tânît Bay, Banc d’Arguin and the Levrier Bay (Rochebrune 1884). More recently Arvy et al. (1996) recorded loggerhead nesting only in the west of the Levrier Bay, finding no evidence of its presence southwards. Arvy and Tijane (1997) later reported nesting in Tânît Bay. This report summarises additional data collected whilst undertaking a survey of the biodiversity of the Mauritanian coast between July and September, 1994.

Four loggerhead turtle nests were discovered on July 15th, 1994 in the Tânît Bay. This site consists of a wide (100m) beach backed by extensive dunes, which, in their upper part, are covered with bushes of Stipagrostis pungens. All nests had been excavated in the vegetation in the upper part of the beach. Of the 4 nests, only one was intact. Two other nests had been predated by the golden jackals (Canis aureus). The turtle, which had been in the process of creating the fourth nest, had been killed, with the eggs and the meat having been eaten.

Loggerhead turtles stranded dead were found along the coast between latitudes 19°07’N and 16°58’N. For each carcass, the straight carapace length (SCL) was measured. It is not known what the cause of mortality was in any case. Although green turtles (Chelonia mydas) were stranded, fifteen loggerhead turtles constituted 64.5% of all strandings. Mean SCL of loggerhead turtles was 63.8 cm (sd=7.62 cm, range=60-84cm).

As there is no certainty regarding regular nesting of the species in Morocco and the Canary Islands, the nests observed in Mauritania have biogeographical importance and as they provide the most northern nesting data for nesting loggerhead turtles in West Africa.

ARVY, C., & D.A. TIJANE. 1997. Données sur les tortues marines et sur la tortue terrestre du littoral Mauritanien. Pp. 101-104 in COLAS, F. (Ed.), Environnement et littoral Mauritanien. Actes du colloque, 12-13 juin 1995, CIRAD, 193 pp.

ARVY, C., J. MAIGRET, D.A. TIJANE & F. COLAS. 1996. Observations de carapaces de Tortues marines dans les villages côuiers de la grande plage Mauritaoienne (Cap Timirist - fpontière sénégalaise). Bull. Soc. Herp. Fr., 79: 5-14.

ROCHEBRUNE, A.T. 1884. Faune de Sénégambie. Reptiles. O. Doin, Paris.