Saving Sea Turtles, One Nest at a Time
Sea turtles have inhabited the world's oceans since the age of the dinosaurs, but are now on the brink of extinction. The so-called leatherback's female population has plummeted from 90,000 to 2,000 in the past two decades, and the survival of threatened turtle eggs is more critical than ever.
Paradoxically, the tourist industry that built up in coastal areas like Costa Rica was due in part to the opportunity to view sea turtles -- which had museums and tours dedicated to them. But the attendant development is also partially responsible for killing them off, causing disgruntled tourists to complain about their scarcity.
Global warming has been another detrimental factor, as turtle nests are vulnerable to minute changes in temperature. Since the gender of the animal is determined by the amount of heat in incubation, small rises in beach temperatures can result in all-female populations, obviously a setback to species survival.
Costa Ricans’ penchant for eating turtle eggs, considered a delicacy there, has given rise to egg poachers -- yet another fatal blow to an animal that has dwelled in the Pacific for 150 million years.
This New York Times video documents a hopeful about-face in one aspect of human behavior that may benefit the sea turtle population. "Leatherback boys" once roamed the beaches at night, after the turtles laid and buried their eggs, to unearth and sell the valued delicacies. Now those one-time poachers, under the tutelage of a marine biologist, have become conservationists, nocturnally digging up eggs with an eye toward protecting them during their vulnerable incubation period, when they can literally bake in sunny temperatures if neglected. The good-willed gatherers act as adoptive fathers of abandoned nestfuls of eggs, relocating them to safety, and helping the turtles return to the sea after the eggs have hatched.
CHANNEL: New York Times
Length: 5:56
By Elisabeth Rosenthal & Shayla Harris
SEE ALSO:
Turtles Are Casualties of Warming in Costa Rica
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/science/earth/14turtles.html
A Troubling Time for Turtles (Slideshow, by Ruth Fremson)
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/11/14/science/1114TURTLES_index.html
Member Comments
Channels