Loggerhead Turtles – Cirali Turkey
August 13, 2016
WWF Organization In Turkey had volunteer activities at Cirali Beach for Loggerhead Turtles.
Caretta Caretta (the loggerhead turtle) is one of the endangered species living in Mediterranean.
They can have considerable dimensions (the largest weights 140 kg. and measures circa 120 cm whereas the smallest measures 80 cm.) They are very fast in the sea, however very slow on the beach. They are swimming though out the sea and they have nesting beaches which they visit yearly. The nesting period is from June to August.
Photo: an injured turtle due to fishermen nests have been cured by WWF organisation and released to sea.
The turtles always go back to the same beach where they were born, and this is one the reasons that they are endangered if the beaches are not in natural conditions. The construction in the beaches, high tourist population, the artificial lighting of the hotels and buildings threats both the mother and young turtles. The young turtles are totally disoriented due to artificial lights and are not able to reach the sea. In addition, the nests can be attacked by dogs, foxes or other animals and destroys the eggs.
Once the female turtle finds the proper place on the beach, she digs a big hole (around 50 cm depth) and places the eggs inside the hole. There are agout 100-110 eggs in one hole.
After about 50 days, the babies break and come out from very soft egg and go out to surface from the sand.
They move towards to sea following the moon light reflected on the water. Therefore, the artificial lights totally mislead them. Only very small percentage survives and reaches to the sea.
The activity from WWF is to have volunteers, who marks the nests, protects them and helps turtles to orient to the sea correctly.
Save the world, save the nature…