Filmwasters
Which Board? => Photo Essays => : charles binns June 22, 2014, 01:18:35 PM
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Mexico's coastline is lucky enough to attract most of the world's turtle species to use its beaches as nesting sites.
Unfortunately habitat destruction, coastal development and hunting have meant that turtle numbers have declined significantly during the recent decades. Many beaches which are prime nesting sites are owned by resort hotels and turtle meat and eggs are considered a delicacy by local fishermen, neither of which augurs particularly well for the poor turtles.
Luckily, however, efforts are being made to give the turtles a helping hand.
In Ixtapan Zihuatenejo a number of hotels run turtle release schemes to protect the eggs laid by nesting turtles and to release the young into the sea.
When turtles nest on the beach, the eggs are removed and buried in an enclosed area of the beach where they are protected from human and animal predation.
The eggs are monitored and when the young turtles hatch, they are released on the beach to make their long, slow journey to adulthood.
Of those young that hatch, maybe one percent will survive to adulthood and having bred, the females will return to the same beach to nest and lay their eggs.
Many young are predated by seabirds during their first, tentative steps from beach to sea but luckily for the turtles hatched in these release schemes, the presence of volunteer workers and cooing guests frighten off any hungry gulls!
We were lucky enough to witness a batch of young Olive Ridley turtles being released on their long perilous voyage during a stay in Ixtapan last year. It is incredible to think of the long journey these small, newly hatched animals will take and the multitude of perils they face on the way.
The young turtles seem so feeble and disorientated and yet those that survive will cling to life with a strength far greater than their diminutive size would give them credit for.
It would be nice to think that a least one of the tiny creatures in these photographs will make it back.
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Fantastic pictures and article! I just love turtles :D
The 3rd and the last are real keepers.
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That's an amazing thing you witnessed, thanks for sharing the great photos.
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Nice photos. I've had several batches of local turtle species hatch in my yard over the years (there's a pond nearby, and the turtles come up to higher ground to lay their eggs). They are unbearably cute.
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Great set, Charles.
When we were in Coata Rica, we were lucky enough to see a very large Leatherback female crawl from the sea, deposit her eggs into a hole and head back into the water. It took a while but the time flew as we were transfixed with it all....
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Your Holga shots always seem so perfect. It really inspires me to pick up mine and head out with it.
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nice set charles,
that would have been a special moment witnessing the
release of those little ones.
thanks for sharing