Sea Turtle Hatchlings!
Today while doing the nest survey we found this nest starting to hatch! About 8 had already made it to the ocean, and there was another one struggling down. We watched him head towards the ocean for about 1 hour but he was not getting very far. We noticed that the nest had a trail of ants leading to it. This was worrying. Dori called Fisheries and Wild Life they told her to try to disturb the ants trail and if the turtles begin to emerge to let them.
That's when we found that the whole nest was infested with ants and we found some dead ones near the surface. So as we pulled away the sand and ants we found the clutch where the live turtles were. We started to pull them out as they were covered in ants. We counted 54 live turtles (Also about 48 dead ones . But at least we saved what we could.
it was so funny watching all the little hatchlings scatter to the ocean, they were everywhere!
They were about the size of a chook egg and you had to be careful where you stood as they camouflaged in the sand. We stayed for a few hours making sure they got to the ocean safely. When they reached the water they would be washed back and forth a few times until they caught the current and swim off. And lots of people were there to help keep the birds and crabs away and cheer them on!
As tempting as it was, we did not carry them to the ocean. The crawl to the ocean is very important for them, its kind of like physical therapy. They have been curled up in a shell for so long and need to stretch out and get those flippers moving before they hit the ocean.
Now that they are out there they have a 5 mile swim out to the sea beds where they will hang out for a few years while they grow.
Only about 1 in 1000 makes it to adult hood and the odds are stacked against them. With threats like natural predators, pollution and plastic in the ocean, injury from boats and fishing nets, loss of habitat and competition for food, and development of sea shores it is amazing that any can survive. That is why each and every one of them is so precious to give this species every chance it has at remaining on this earth.
