On July 9th, our global seminar moved from San Juanillo to Ostional, where we will be studying and living with new host families for two weeks. The Ostional beach, located inside the Ostional National Wildlife Refuge, is one of the most important beaches on the planet because it is one of the few locations that host mass nesting events of the Olive Ridley sea turtle.
A mass nesting event, also called an "arribada" in Spanish, is when thousands to hundreds of thousands of sea turtles come to nest at the same time over the course of several days to two weeks. Mini-Arribadas, which happen during the dry/beginning of the wet season (what we are in right now), occur about once a month. The big arribadas start in August during the wet season and happen twice a month with even larger number of nesting turtles. There is little pattern or ability to successfully predict an arribada. Scientists still have no idea why it happens or when it will happen. Locals are sometimes able to tell when an arribada is about to start, but sometimes the turtles will start coming and then decide there's too much rain and leave. In Ostional, we work on turtle time.
Turtle patrols last for 4 hours, with shifts from 8pm-12am and 12am-4am. My group was incredibly lucky to see all 3 turtles spotted the first night of patrol and get to work on one within the first hour. Seeing that first turtle, who was already laying eggs when we found her, was indescribable. I cried. It's a very surreal experience. We collect data on each turtle and divde into roles to collect the most accurate data without disturbing the turtle. For this first turtle, nicknamed Una, I got to help count the number of eggs she was laying. She laid 105 eggs and had a beautiful, pristine shell! We then watched as she camoflauged her eggs and returned to the water. The night sky above was gorgeous, as there are no overly bright lights allowed in the refuge due to the turtles' light sensitivity.
Photo credit: Tara Hild Photo credit: Emily Garcia
The next day we were greeted with a big surprise! Ostional has infrequent solitary nesters of two threatened species: greens and leatherbacks. When volunteers spot either of these two species, these turtles become the number one priority due to their low population. Their eggs are collected as fast as possible and transported to the hatchery, where they remain at the ideal temperature and safe from predators. This means the majority of eggs hatch successfully, much higher than the percent that would hatch in the wild (less than 30 percent). The night of our first sea turtle patrol, 30 green sea turtle babies hatched successfully. The biological field station at Ostional, which runs the hatchery and turtle research, held them through the night so that we would have the opportunity to work with the hatchlings and release them the next day. They were so tiny and so sleepy! We measured the size of their shell, their weight, and any abnormalities. Then, we created a half circle around the turtles to ward off the vultures as the babies were released onto the sand and entered the ocean.
Little did we know an even bigger surprise awaited! 3 days later, when students went to exhume the nest to study the eggs that didn't make it, they found 14 more hatchlings that had not made their way to the top of the nest! Everyone rushed over to watch their release under the beautiful sunset.
Kimbo from Bioma releasing the 30 hatchlings. They are placed away from the water so that they can build up their pectoral muscles before entering the ocean. Photo Credit: Quinn Maynard
Me measuring one of the babies, who I nicknmaed "chiri," short for the russian word for turtle.
Sunset during the second turtle release. Photo credit: Sergio from BIOMA
Ostional directly benefits from the conservation of this rare mass nesting site and protection of these animals. Our global seminar has been learning a lot about the intersection of sea turtles and humans, and I am so grateful to be able to see first hand this relationship. This is truly a once in a lifetime experience and even two weeks in I feel like quite a different person. I am ready to protect these creatures with my entire heart.
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