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Thursday 29 December 2011

Baby Green Sea Turtles - Pulau Derawan

Evening - 13th & 14th November, 2011

Discovering the baby Green Sea Turtles...


I had spent some time talking to Pak Jon (the owner of Reza Homestay, where I was staying) about his work for WWF. Pak Jon and a couple of other local men on the island do voluntary work as rangers for the WWF, their role is to protect the turtle's and their eggs and nests, as well as feed the turtles banana leaves morning and afternoon.

Pak Jon had told me that his work involved ensuring that the turtles could lay their eggs safely on the beach, they would later collect the turtle's eggs (so no one could steal them!) and bury them in a deep hole in the sand, in a protected area on the island. They log the date and number of eggs, to ensure that they can track two months from the date of the turtle laying the eggs to when they will hatch. And the final step...to ensure that they assist the baby turtles back into the ocean after they hatch.

On the evening of the 13th November, at 7.30-8.00pm I walked down to the end of the island to see the baby turtles hatching, as Pak Jon had invited me along.  For some reason I didn't find the spot where the hatching was taking place...so I ended up going for a long walk along the beach...it was full moon and it was really beautiful..! While walking along the sandy beach under just the light from the full moon, I stumbled (and I mean literally stumbled...I almost stepped on her! Aduh!) upon a turtle making her way up the beach to lay her eggs...WOW!!!

The next night at 7.30pm I made sure that I actually walked with Pak Jon to the spot on the island, to see the baby turtles hatching. We walked to the end of the island, to an area that is used for turtle protection, and there was a big hole in the sand, where Pak Jon and his friend who also worked for the WWF, had hidden the turtle eggs two months ago, and they had just hatched...so many cute little baby turtles! 

We moved the tiny baby turtles gently from the sandy hole to a polysterene box....and then released them out to sea! They moved so fast into the ocean, although I couldn't help but wonder how many would survive out there in the big, wide ocean!?
There were 79 eggs placed in the hole in the sand and it takes two months for them to hatch. Fifteen of the eggs didn't hatch. However, the night before, there were 200 baby turtles released into the ocean. Nice to know that there are people that care about sustaining the lives of endangered animals! :)

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