Naturally Kiawah Magazine Volume 35 | Page 64

Loggerhead Turtle Truths By Maggie Schein, PhD T here is terror, determination, mysticism, wisdom, awe, beauty, devotion and heroism in both what the turtle symbolizes and in our relationship with them—for those of us here in the Low Country as well as those in many other cultures. Despite that heritage, we are, above all, the greatest threat to this complex and important being. However, as groups like this one demonstrate, we have also been found, late at night, crouching in the dark, knees ground down in the sand, whispering to one another to make sure our flash-lights and phones are off, sending one of our crew to the house that left its lights on to remind the home-owners that the turtles follow the moon—and the moon only. Any artificial light will divert them during their laying s eason. And we have been known to cup and count their precious eggs, so many of whom will not be viable and whose tender babies will never make it back to the ocean, with concentration as delicate and precise as a surgeon. We are often guilty of fatal nets, ignorance and cruelty, it’s true, but we can also be seen demonstrating heroic care so as not to disrupt the order of the eggs, so as not to take away their heat, and with absolute devotion to their delicate ways and to the extraordinary efforts their mother has made in her reverie with the moon and the sand. Her armycrawl up the beach, our magnificent low country beaches in this case, is no small feat, and she does so almost as though in a determined, impenetrable, trance. And the little ones that make it from her expertly dug nest, who were not disturbed, who were not taken as prey, they scamper to what they instinctively know as fast as they can in a fluttering hoard to be welcomed by the tides. And those of us with sand-dented knees, tired eyes, hair tangled by the salted wind, hands chaffed by plastic gloves that have been on all night, and protective hearts, we cry in awe and delight in being. In certain cultures, the turtle is the symbol of the Origin, of the Earth, of the Heavens, of the wisdom of all three carried on their backs to us. That is no small burden. That is no small gift. And they always come home. To us, it is on our Low Country beaches. Let’s make sure we do our part and help these majestic, magical, mysterious, and delicate creatures continue to have a home to come to, and also let us have reason to continue to wonder in awe at them, that they gift their continual returns to us. NK 62 Naturally Kiawah