NBC’s ‘Today’ highlights rare find in Hilton Head during SC visit. Check it out
Only five green sea turtle nests have reportedly been found in Hilton Head Island in the last 30 years, but that might have changed on Friday.
Local sea turtle monitors might have just found the sixth, all while participating in a segment for the popular NBC program, the ‘Today’ show.
As part of a segment during the ‘Today’ show’s visit to Hilton Head Friday, members of the Hilton Head Sea Turtle Patrol showed some of the nests they were monitoring and how they looked for new ones.
During that segment, the volunteer monitoring group showed that they had possibly found a rare green sea turtle nest for the island and that the eggs had just been buried in the last few hours. Mainly loggerhead sea turtles nest in the area.
The Sea Turtle Patrol declared that only five such nests have reportedly been found in the area in the last 30 years.
A member of the group then dug up one of the eggs so another member could take a DNA sample. The egg was then reburied.
The group has found 32 sea turtle nests so far this year.
Columbia native Craig Melvin, along with weather presenter and TV personality Al Roker, Sheinelle Jones and Dylan Dreyer, all hosted the third hour of ‘Today’ live from Hilton Head Island on Friday.
Besides the turtle segment, the highlighted other aspects of Hilton Head life, including taking a chartered fishing trip and eating some local cuisine.
Also Lenard Larry McKelvey, known as Charlamagne tha God, the co-host of a nationally syndicated radio show and another South Carolina native, stopped by for an interview.
It’s not the first time “Today” has come to the Lowcountry. In 2015, Roker made a quick visit to Hilton Head as part of an attempt to set the Guinness World Record for fastest time to report a weather forecast from all 50 U.S. states.
This story was originally published May 20, 2022 at 10:35 AM.
