More so than you might think.
Amongst marine researchers, the critically endangered hawksbill turtle is notoriously difficult to study in its natural habitat. Like tortoises, turtles are often viewed as slow, lumbering reptiles, but any scuba diver fortunate enough to see one in the wild will appreciate that encounters tend to be fleeting. These skittish creatures are usually seen darting into the blue, wary of any unfamiliar presence. Hawksbill turtles are typically cautious of anything larger than themselves due to the associated risk of predation, hence their tendency to avoid people and the subsequent problems faced when trying to study them.
Although their reproductive cycle is reasonably well understood from being so accessible when tirelessly digging their nesting pits on the beach, the difficulty of locating hawksbill turtles underwater, and crucially being able to observe them for any length of time, has meant that their feeding methods, prey preferences, social interactions and impact on their environment all largely remain a mystery.
Once used to his presence, these hawksbill turtles treated Rainer like any other marine denizen.
