Thursday, July 24, 2014

The Sea Turtles Of Saona Island Dominican Republic

Four varieties of sea turtles are nesting on Saona Island, Dominican Republic. All 4 varieties are detailed as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (ICUN). In fact, both the hawksbill turtle and the leatherback turtle are listed as seriously threatened which makes them among the most endangered animals on Earth. Certainly, this makes seeing one even more priceless.


Preservationists are working hard to try to save these beautiful animals. One of the most intense preservation efforts on Saona Island are for the hawksbill turtle. Hawksbill turtles travel hundreds of miles and if any part of their quest takes them to a location where they are killed or injured, this could imply the species will not endure. To this end, experts have to recognize far better where these turtles pursue after they lay their eggs on Saona Island. To track them, they temporarily restrain some of the female hawksbills in a wooden corral after they lay their eggs and glue a satellite transmitter to her shell. This does not hurt the turtle but it does enable experts to track where she goes.


The regional individuals have participated the sea turtle preservation activity also. There is a little town of 300 - 400 individuals on the southwestern shore of Saona Island. The school children of the town and some of the adults have come to be involved in the project and it is partly funded by a regional eco-tour operator (view listed below) that runs the most well-liked Punta Cana excursion to Saona Island. If you go on this excursion, you will view exactly how the sea turtle preservation project runs, meet some of the children involved, and if you are actually lucky you will view some of the baby sea turtles that are only 1-3 days aged. These baby turtles are so cute you may have the urge to pick them up and nuzzle them like kittycats. They will definitely make you grin each time you think about them.


Read the full article here.


 

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