| "When sand wet by the highest waves is reached by
the hatchling, a surge of speed and confidence is often shown, and
some of the turtles may even break prematurely into short bursts of
swimming strokes. The touch of the wet sand may be the cue that
brings on this premature change of gait. When a wave slides up the
flat and lifts the turtles, the flying swimstroke is instantly taken
up by all the hatchlings; and during the time that they are
alternately lifted and stranded by the coming and going of the
sheet-flow, some confusion is evident among them. As each wave-wash
comes back, however, they begin swimming forward a little toward the
surf." "This sudden “learning” to swim, seems
to illustrate what students of animal behavior call the releaser
effect. It appears to require no practice period at all. The
capacity may develop in the end of a single wave, and along with it
there appears to come a current sense too, that causes the turtles
to align themselves with the swash and backwash. This response
allows them to continue on a seaward course in spite of the changing
direction of flow of the surf. It must be their occasional bumping
on the bottom that indicates to the hatchlings that the water is in
motion, and that it goes first one way and then the other." |