We have hatchlings!

This season’s first hatchlings

Two days ago, afternoon patrol consisting of Jess, Elda, Aydin and Ahmet found our first hatchlings!

Hatchlings in the nest

To start, a brief introduction about the mating, nesting and hatching process of loggerhead sea turtles. When female sea turtles reach sexual maturity around 25 to 30 years old, they return to the area where they were born to mate and lay their eggs. Here at Iztuzu Beach, the mating season last from April to May, nesting season last from May to August and hatching season last from July to October. A female sea turtle lays multiple times a season and she lays between 50 to 100 eggs each time. The eggs usually incubate for 60 days before the hatchlings emerge from the eggs. An interesting fact about hatchings is that the sex of the hatchlings is determined by the temperature of the sand. On Iztuzu, if the sand temperature is above 29.9 Celsius, the hatchlings will be female. If the temperature is below 29.9 Celsius, the hatchings will be male. In a nest, approximately 80% of the hatchlings will be female and 20% will be male.

They are tiny!

This year, as our nesting season started earlier than usual so we were expecting hatchlings weeks earlier than usual. However, with no sign of the hatchlings a few days after they were supposed to hatch, the decision was made to excavate the nest. As they started to excavate the nest, they discovered hatchlings! Unfortunately, the hatchlings were having a little trouble climbing out of their nest and were not as strong as we would have like them to be. Thus, a decision was made to bring the hatchlings back to the center for a few days until they regained their full strength.

It has been extremely rewarding to be able to view the season’s first hatchlings, especially since our time here at DEKAMER is quickly coming to an end.