Page 71 - August 2015 Life In Naples Magazine
P. 71
DR. ELLEN PRAGER
shares her wacky world under the sea
WINDLE ATTACHES A “DO NOT DISTURB – SEA TURTLE NEST” Wby Brigid O’Malley
SIGN TO THE PROTECTIVE CAGE hether it’s a tale about a manatee giving her a full-body
hug in the Crystal River, a story about an army of sea
did she go, what path did she take,’’ Windle said. urchins marching toward her or a first-person account
The interns are out on Saturdays and when they reach more of having a pizza delivered to her submersible off the Florida Keys,
Ellen Prager has exploits to share.
populated areas, they sometimes get questions about what they’re
doing as they walk the beaches. Others look at them and say, “Oh, “The manatee came up to me and hugged me so tight. I was
turtles, right.” laughing so hard, I spit my snorkel out,’’ she said, recounting her
Crystal River encounter to a crowd of nearly 75 people at the
Once the nest is located they place a wire cage over the nest Rookery Bay Environmental Learning Center. “It was the best
so that predators can’t get into the nest. Then they’ll get all the thing ever. It has to be in my Top Five.”
specifics on location and log it in.
Prager, a marine scientist and the author of a new book, “Shark
The big news will be when the hatching starts. Norris has seen Rider,’’ meant to reach out to middle school students by engaging
that. For Windle, it’ll be a first. them with fun, fantastic adventures of Tristan Hunt, the main
character who has the ability to communicate with sea life. Prager
The hatchlings will make their way out of the sand at night or uses her real-life work as a researcher to bring her fictional characters
early in the morning in the cooler weather, Norris explains. More to life in spots from the Florida Keys to the British Virgin Islands.
than 100 may come from a single nest. She is currently a consultant, science advisor to Celebrity Xpedition
in the Galapagos Islands and a Safina Center Fellow. She was also
“A couple might get a head start and then they just start
bubbling out,’’ she said. “They just know what to do.” once the chief scientist for the Aquarius Reef
Base program in Key Largo and the former
Norris said looking for depressions or little tracks is the way to assistant dean at the University of Miami
find out if the turtles made it out. About three days later, they’ll dig Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric
up the nest for evaluation. They will often find some live turtles that Science.
need a little help, some who are partly out of their shell and some that
are dead. She captured the attention of the audience
with her stories from the Galapagos Islands,
“It’s pretty rewarding,’’ she said. “Especially after being out there from the courtship ritual of the albatross where
for two or three months, doing all of the work of protecting the nest.’’ their mating dance is like a sword fight or the
marine iguana’s ability to stay underwater for
So those long mornings, rainy afternoons out on the boat, 45 minutes, munching on algae, topped off
navigating to the different beaches where they walk and then dig and with an afternoon in the sun.
cage the nests, it’s all worth it. “They are just out there in the sun, sneezing the salt water out,’’
Prager explained. “You can hear them.”
“Definitely,’’ Windle said.
The Rookery Bay Reserve waters so far have given the two an She talked about what she believes are the top five problems in
up-close look at Southwest Florida marine inhabitants, from a 6-foot the ocean: pollution, climate changes, overfishing, habitat loss and
nurse shark, to dolphins, manatees and sea turtles coming to the invasive species, pointing the lionfish as the biggest invader.
surface.
The two agree that sea turtles are their future. Norris aims to Prager has lived on tall sailing ships, submersibles and dived
complete her Master’s degree at FGCU with a project on sea turtles oceans around the globe. All of those experiences added up to
and Cape Romano and Keewaydin Island, while Windle’s hoping to stories she wanted to share—stories with a purpose. That took her
work with marine life after she graduates. into young adult fiction where she has created new worlds where
“Sea turtles, definitely,’’ Windle said. new, fictional creatures exist: an octopus called “Old Six-Arm Jack,”
Volunteers welcome. Learn more about Rookery Bay Reserve’s a scallop usually armed with hundreds of eyes who is near-sighted
sea turtle program at www.rookerybay.org. and a snaggle-tooth shark waiting for his new dentures. The young
teen characters with their own special super powers are often racing
off to solve mysteries and problems.
“I try to incorporate in real ocean issues, too,’’she said, explaining
that shark-finning is one such issue she tackles. Millions of sharks
are killed each year by people removing their fins and tossing the
sharks back into the water.
For more information about her series of books, visit www.
Tristan-hunt.com.
