DURBAN – uShaka Sea World has started target training a female loggerhead turtle that was found half-buried in the sand in Sodwana Bay, north of Durban, on October 18, 2021.
The turtle named Orion was found exhausted, positively buoyant, and had a visible cataract in her left eye.
uShaka Sea World senior quarantine aquarist Malini Pather said: “Working with visually impaired turtles poses a unique set of challenges. Loggerhead turtles are usually very motivated by the sight of food.
“In Orion’s case, we need to help her recognise food through smell and sound as we are preparing for the reality that the sight in her right eye might, unfortunately, over time degenerate to the same extent as her left eye.”
Ann Kunz of uShaka Sea World said as Orion was a fairly young turtle, the cataract was unlikely age-related and as there was no visible trauma around the eye, but it was difficult to determine how she developed the cataract.
“Although Orion has put on weight and is quite healthy, she struggles to navigate with her single functioning eye. As she is currently unreleasable we have started to target train her. Not only is she learning to respond to a visual target, but to a sound target as well,” Kunz said.
“Orion is not our first visually impaired turtle. Munchkin, a three-year-old loggerhead arrived a few years ago with cataracts in both eyes. Thankfully Munchkin responded really well to target-training and is now quite at home in the aquarium’s turtle lagoon exhibit.”
Kunz added that they were hoping Orion would learn to cope with her impairment and eventually adapt well enough to be a candidate for release.
Daily News