Sea Turtles Set New Nesting Records In Georgia, Florida

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SAVANNAH, Ga. (CBSMiami/AP) — Sea turtles have set a new nesting record in Florida and other southeastern beaches, rebounding from a nesting slump last year.

Florida's nesting season still has a month to go, but scientists have already counted a record 12,000 nests dug by endangered green turtles at the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge. University of Central Florida sea turtle researcher Kate Mansfield says the same beaches had fewer than 50 green turtle nests in the 1980s.

On the coast of Georgia, scientists and volunteers counted a record 2,292 loggerhead sea turtle nests during the season that runs from May through August. It's the fifth season in six years that Georgia has counted a record number of nests.

Preliminary numbers show loggerhead turtles also had a nesting comeback in North Carolina and South Carolina after 2014 numbers dipped sharply.

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