00:00The circle of life is playing out in the stats right. I remember that just two months ago
00:06we were there when diamondback terrapins came ashore to bury their eggs. Now those nests
00:13are coming alive as tiny hatchlings dig their way out and are being released into the nearby
00:20water. All right, Allie Reed is live this morning from Barnegat Light, New Jersey with a closer look
00:25at this remarkable journey. Hey, Allie, I need the Lion King moment then, you know? Holding one of
00:32the terrapins up and showing it around and say everything the light touches.
00:39It's the circle of life, right? Okay, I'm meant to be a TV reporter, not on Broadway, okay? That's
00:46for sure. But yeah, I mean, it is the circle of life. It really is incredible to see this, right?
00:51And for those that may or may not have seen, it was just two, a little over two months ago that we
00:56were here last back in June. Really exciting. And if you did see it, how could you forget? It was so
01:02exciting down here at the Jersey Shore. This is the talk of the town right now. The terrapins back then,
01:08they crossed into the sand over this way and they laid their eggs. Now, two months later,
01:14the weather was just right. It incubated them perfectly. And now we have Kathy. Come on,
01:21join us live this morning as we talk about the update. First of all, how exciting is this? We
01:26have little hatchlings with us this morning and they are so cute. Good morning. Thank you for having
01:31me back again. Since the end of July, we actually closed up the nesting site to protect it from
01:37predators and all the eggs were nice and sleeping in their little nests and they are incubating.
01:41The incubation time is 60 to 90 days. This year, our first nest actually hatched at 72 days,
01:47but we did have one surprise that some popped out in 55 days. Well, and we talk about the weather
01:51and how it needs to be just right for this to happen. We need 60 days of the sun actually hitting
01:58the sand. So rainy days don't count. Cloudy days don't count. 60 days of the sun heating the sand
02:04like an incubator. And now what I think is what we get. We get beautiful little turtles. Yes.
02:12Let's get right up close to the hatchlings. Look how cute. You come on. They're the cutest. We do
02:17actually, they actually are the cutest things on earth. How could you not love one of these little
02:20guys? If you notice, can you get a closeup of actually the little nose? Here, ready? Let me see.
02:24That little white spot, it's a caruncle and it's actually an egg tooth. And this is how they
02:29actually break out of the egg. Okay. They chip it open from the inside. That little thing will fall
02:34off in a couple of days. They don't need it anymore. Interesting. Okay. All of this, by the way,
02:39I'm giving you a little bit of education here. This is what we've done with the community since day one.
02:44And this has been so important because when we started this project 15 years ago,
02:48there were very few hatchlings, if any, in the bay. Right. We build up the population and the
02:53community is educated. And they are so thrilled about this program that they wrap their arms around
02:59it. And you put one of these little hatchlings in somebody's hand, because we're going to put
03:02some of these out. Hooked for life. We're going to put these out in the bay today, out in the marshes.
03:07The community is going to join us. You put a hatchling in somebody's hand, you've got them sucked in for
03:12life. Now, what I love about this is the fact that you really have changed this community for the
03:17better. The ecosystem is so important here. You said you saw an issue with the bay, something needed to be
03:23done with it. And that's exactly what you did here. These are secondary and tertiary consumers. They're vital to the
03:27health of the bay's ecosystem. In the past 15 years, this bay has really cleaned up. It's sparkling. The only
03:34thing that has changed is the population of the terrapins has increased. We love that. Thank you. And
03:39everybody knows it. Yes. So everybody is really proud of the fact that they have wrapped their arms
03:43around this project and they love their terrapins. Now, I want to talk more in the next hour, but
03:47talk about that release, how exciting it is for families to come and do this. One of our biggest
03:51fundraisers is Adopt the Nest. And families come and they adopt the nest. And then they come with
03:57their little, their six kids or whatever. We take them out to the marshes and we give them, we give
04:03them a big program. We tell them all about the hatchlings, all about the turtles. Everybody gets a
04:07turtle and we show them how to tuck them into the marshes where they will live for the first four years of
04:11their life. Amazing. They leave with a knowledge, with the education and with the feeling that they
04:17have actually helped these turtles. Kathy, it really is incredible. I know I want to talk a little bit
04:22more about this at 1030. So if you want to hear more about the terrapins, talk to us then. Can I see
04:28one really quickly as we send it back to Ari and Bernie in studio? You have to be so jealous, guys.
04:34Look how cute. They're so tiny. Allie, our faces were like, yeah, just like looking. We want to
04:41learn more about how we, how we adopt a nest. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Or a turtle too. Yeah. They're
04:49ready to adopt a nest. They want to adopt a nest. Just get in touch with us and we'll set you up.
04:54All right.
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