Green Sea Turtle hatchlings
The island of Lankayan has a protection program for sea turtles. In this time of the year many turtles return to the island to lay their eggs (see last pictures for a mom delivering her eggs in the beach). To protect the turtles from predators the biologists take them from the natural nest into a hatchery. They record the hatching time and when the hatchlings are ready to surface they take them out to the sea. The hatching is about 50-70 days after the eggs were laid and the clutch can be 100-200 eggs. It is important to release the hatchlings in the beach and let them find the water by themselves so that they really can memorize the environment where they were born since as adults they will return there to mate and lay their eggs. The presence of humans nearby protects them from being picked up by the opportunistic sea birds who are also in numbers there to hunt them.
Lankayan Island, Sabah.
The green sea turtle, also known as the green turtle, black turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus "Chelonia". Its range extends throughout tropical and subtropical seas around the world, with two distinct populations in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, but it is also found in the Indian Ocean.
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