Turtley Awesome Sea Turtle Facts.

The first time I saw a sea turtle was when I was in Costa Rica, participating in AEI’s sea turtle nesting conservation program. It was late at night and we were helping to patrol the beach, on the lookout for female turtles coming out of the ocean to lay their eggs. The turtle was a Leatherback - a giant, silent, magnificent presence in the moonlight. She was breathtaking. And the experience was made even more amazing by knowing we were ensuring her eggs would be kept safe, and that her offspring could return to the ocean one day, to continue a cycle that has been taking place for over 100 million years.

Sea turtles are one of the most loved marine creatures, but also one of the most secretive. For the most part, what sea turtles do and where they spend their time has remained a mystery. There are seven species of sea turtles in our oceans, and while females periodically come on shore to lay their eggs, most of their lives are spent in the water. We do know that most species migrate thousands of kilometers in their lifetimes as they move between their feeding and breeding grounds and are found in every ocean around the world, except the Arctic and Antarctic. One Leatherback turtle found on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica had been previously tagged in Newfoundland, Canada!

We need to know more about them

Tagging and tracking sea turtles has been key in allowing researchers to gain insight into their lives, and provides important information for sea turtle protection and conservation. AEI’s sea turtle conservation program in Costa Rica offers a glimpse into the lives of sea turtles when they are not at their nesting sites. Researchers study turtles swimming freely in the Golfo Dulce, identifying, tagging and monitoring these sea turtles to better understand their behaviour. This information is used in the global turtle conservation effort to help turtles around the world. 

Sea turtle facts 

Sea turtles species vary greatly in size. Olive ridleys are the smallest sea turtles (weighing up to 50 kg or 110 pounds). Leatherbacks are the largest sea turtle species and can weigh up to 680 kg (1,500 pounds) and measure 183 cm (6 feet). We know that sea turtles can live a very long time, but their exact age is difficult to document. Their natural lifespan is estimated to be between 50 and 100 years. It takes 20 - 30 years for a sea turtle to reach sexual maturity, and when ready, female turtles return to the very same beach where they were hatched to lay their own eggs. Some females have been found to nest every year until the age of 80!

How many sea turtles are there? 

This is a difficult question to answer, as juvenile and male sea turtles never come ashore. Population numbers are usually estimated by the number of adult females that nest each year. This is not an easy feat, as some females nest every 2 - 3 years, and others may nest more than once in a season. Scientists look at the changing numbers of nesting females from year to year to determine population trends. 

Making a difference

We do know that six of the seven species of sea turtles are listed as threatened, endangered or critically endangered. Sea turtles face multiple threats caused by humans, such as bycatch in commercial fishing gear, illegal trade, consumption, and climate change. There is still much work to do to decrease these threats and many ways for you to help.  AEI’s partner in Australia provides assistance to adult sea turtles that have been injured or impacted by boats, nets, ocean pollution and severe weather events. 

Together we are making a difference. We are starting to hear positive news, with many conservation programs reporting an increase in the numbers of nesting female sea turtles now being counted on the beaches. By supporting these efforts, we can continue to see the numbers of these ancient and mysterious sea creatures rise and ensure they have a place in the oceans for millions of more years to come.

Remember that AEI has a Relief Fund for our placement partners. If you want to donate to sea turtles you can send us the donation through paypal and we will send it over to them- just make sure you add the animal you want the donation to go to. That way you don’t pay any bank fees or anything like that! 100% of the money that you send us to send to sea turtle conservation will go to sea turtles! Donate Here!

Helping Animals During the Covid-19 Crisis.

During this time of uncertainty and fear, we want to highlight a few ways that we can help each other and the animals we care about, without putting anyone at risk. Sadly all of our centres around the world have temporarily stopped taking volunteers - so the ways we can help won't involve travel at this time. This is about all of us pooling our collective resources to help the animals we all love so much. 

Many of the conservation and domestic animal centres that we support have volunteer donations as their main source of income. The hands-on work of the volunteers means programs can run, that animals are being cared for, that conservation efforts can go forward. It also frees up the time of staff, scientists and veterinarians so that they can do specialized work such as providing medical support to the animals or working on conservation research. The volunteer fees help buy things like food and medication, fund the rescue and release of wildlife, fund spay and neuter programs and other essential work. In this completely unprecedented time with no volunteers at these centres (both now and for the foreseeable future) our partners are at a loss as to how to operate. Their work continues - there are locals on the ground who are leading these efforts and they have some contingency funds. But if we don't support them in this time of need the consequences will be disastrous. Animals in the care of the centres will NOT suffer, but debts will grow and conservation and welfare groups who go out to tag wildlife, protect sea turtle nests and vaccinate dogs will have to stop. This will harm conservation efforts now and into the future.  

Many of us are looking at the coming months with trepidation. But we want everyone to remember, we are all in this together and we can all help each other during these challenging times. Provide hope by making a donation to a centre where you have volunteered, or one where you are heading to in the future or dream to go one day. Every little bit will help. Any donation will remind our conservation and animal welfare partners around the world that they are not alone. 

Donations are needed for our elephants and wildlife rescue centre in Thailand; our sea turtle conservation group in Costa Rica, for European dolphin conservation, Guatemalan wildlife rescue, Spanish galgo efforts, Spanish horse rescue, Southern African wildlife rehabilitation, and all the other important programs that we and our amazing volunteers support. We are all hurting and we are all a little scared, so let's spread the love today and donate to these centres who even in this crisis are animal and conservation heroes. To donate directly through our website select "Pay Fee" and then select "Donate" letting us know which program you would like to support. Or contact us for more information.