The beautiful Sea Turtle, or also called kelonoids, are reptiles with shells which have inhabited planet Earth for approximately 150 million years and have been able to survive all the great changes that have occurred in the environment. In principle, turtles were merely terrestrial animals, however, over the years they evolved and were able to adapt to the marine environment. If you want to learn much more about the sea turtle, do not hesitate for a moment to continue reading this article.
Sea turtle
The quelonioides belong to a superfamily of turtles, among which we can find sea turtles; currently they consist of two families, the Cheloniidae, and also the Dermochelyidae, families which also include seven species of turtles. These beautiful and famous reptiles regularly inhabit the depths of the sea, however, from time to time, they resort to the surface to lay their eggs there.
Description
As we mentioned before, turtles are reptiles, belonging to a class of approximately 6.000 species which have scaly skin; In turn, these beautiful reptiles breathe air and also use sunlight to heat their ectodermal cupers. Like all species of reptiles, sea turtles reproduce through internal fertilization, and in turn, like a good majority of reptiles, their mode of reproduction is oviparous.
Probably the most outstanding feature of the turtles is their shell. This skeletal structure functions as an armed cover, which protects each and every one of their internal organs, in addition to protecting them from the heat and their different predators. The upper part of this same shell is completely covered with structures which look like scales, these structures are called "shields". The shell of turtles is connected to the ventral region, which is called the plastron, through very hard shell plates regularly known as lateral bridges.
The giant body cavity that turtles have, especially sea turtles, has a fairly large amount of intestinal mass, which is very easy to digest plant materials and different marine creatures which are in their diet. Especially in the case of the green sea turtle, which is almost entirely vegetarian, it has a unique feature in its digestive system; a special part of their digestive tract have bacterial symbionts, which help them digest cellulose much better. Only a few other reptiles are primary vegetarians.
This giant body cavity that we mentioned earlier allows female turtles to have a very large volume of eggs inside their body. Female sea turtles are also fully capable of harboring live sperm for many years, although clearly the fertility of this sperm will decrease over time; This great capacity of the females allows them to fertilize themselves without having to resort to the act of mating.
Apart from using their lungs to breathe in ambient air, turtles have also adopted a number of other ways to breathe. Many species of sea turtles pass water through their nasal passages until it reaches their mouth and throat, where all the oxygen is absorbed through their pharynx. All this process is carried out through the pharynx which has a role as if it were a gill; On the other hand, many other species of sea turtles drink water through their anal opening, which fills completely and empties two sacs, this allows a slow current to exist which will allow them to collect oxygen.
Regularly turtles tend to have much higher levels of carbon dioxide in their blood compared to the vast majority of air-breathing animals, taking this into account, turtles can use their oxygen supply in the best possible way for periods of time. long. In the same way as blood, all the muscle tissue of turtles can also store oxygen in very high quantities: this large supply of oxygen that these reptiles have makes it easy for them to stay underwater for very long periods of time.
Another great aspect of sea turtle breathing can be highlighted, this aspect is the immense need they have for external flexibility. The hinged plastron, or what attaches its shell to its body, allows for contraction and expansion in its chest area. Especially in the case of sea turtles it is much more difficult to breathe when the females come from the beach.
Sea turtles have different special adaptations that allow them to live properly under the sea. The shells of these same turtles have a fairly low weight, not to mention that they are presented with a fairly aerodynamic shape in order to reduce the great friction that could exist in the water. Unlike land turtles with their front and rear legs, sea turtles have four flippers which have well developed muscles to move under the sea very quickly over long distances.
There have been specimens of sea turtles that reach speeds of up to 55 kilometers per hour under the sea. These anatomical adaptations of sea turtles have been evolving and perfecting for millions of years and, forgive the redundancy, of their own evolution enduring, even all the great environmental changes that the earth has suffered throughout history.
Species
Obviously, there is an immense variety of species of sea turtles, especially when we take into account that there are two different families to which they belong, among all these species we can find the following:
- Dermochelys coriacea, or known as the Leatherback Turtle
- Lepidochelys olivacea, Olive Ridley Turtle
- Chelonia agassizi, better known as the Eastern Pacific Black Turtle
- Caretta caretta, Loggerhead Turtle
- Lepidochelys kempii, it is also called Olive Ridley Turtle
- Cheloni mydas, or Green Turtle
- Eretmochelys imbricata, Hawksbill Turtle
- Chelonia depressa, also Kikila Tortoise
Evolution
These beautiful vertebrates have been surviving on earth for at least 200 million years, these beautiful reptiles have gone through very stable periods, but also periods with the most extreme climates and changes that have been seen on earth. These vertebrates over the years evolved into amphibians, which is also a class of vertebrate but much older, which can live without any problem in the sea and on land. Over the years, all the reptiles completely dominated the Earth, both on the ground, in the seas, and even in the air.
In spite of this, in the history of the evolution of reptiles, very early the turtles, belonging to the order of chelonians, that is, Chelonia, completely separated from the line of evolution of these reptiles. The origin of these same turtles is unknown, however, fossils have been found that have been recognized as turtles from periods as old as the Triassic period, this period dates back 180 million years where the dinosaurs were beginning to become fully dominant land animals.
According to many scientific studies, the turtles of the Triassic period did not present great differences compared to today's turtles, however, there are different tests that show that the ancient turtles had characteristics that the current ones do not have; A great example of these characteristics is that the turtles of the Triassic period had notoriously sharp teeth, while those of today only have jaws with sharp edges, it is most likely that the natural habitat of these turtles was the swamps.
Many years later, approximately in the final years of the Cretaceous period, 65 million years ago, different turtles, such as the Archelon ischyros species, could reach lengths of up to three meters, and also used to inhabit the superficial sea of what that today we could come to consider the west coast of the United States of America. Despite the ability that turtles had to easily inhabit the ocean, over the years, they began to evolve and there were different species that only lived on land, just as many others continued to live in the waters.
It should be noted that sea turtles, with the exception of sea snakes, are the only reptiles that have been successful in returning to the sea. The turtles that returned to this environment had to evolve and develop different special adaptations to be able to correctly inhabit the entire marine environment, however, they never lost their characteristic of being a reptile.
Sea turtles have different characteristics which give them their character as reptiles, among these we can observe: The fact that their mode of reproduction is oviparous, like the vast majority of reptiles, sea turtles also have lungs and breathe air; and finally, with the exception of the leatherback sea turtle, most sea turtles have very hard plates around their entire body. In the case of leatherback turtles, they look a lot like freshwater turtles in that their entire body is covered in leathery layers, instead of these hard plates.
Following the common behavior of reptiles, sea turtles avoid any type of extreme weather at all costs, this is because turtles depend entirely on the temperature of the water where they live in order to regulate that of their own body; It is worth mentioning that the animals that do these are called poikilotherms or cold-blooded animals. Taking this characteristic into account, with the exception of the leatherback sea turtle, sea turtles completely move away from very cold climates and live in tropical or semi-tropical environments.
In the case of leatherback turtles, different studies have been carried out on them and it has been determined that thanks to the large size of their bodies, these turtles can generate more than enough internal temperature to survive even in the coldest waters. Finally, like the vast majority of reptiles, turtles usually have a very high life expectancy and can live very long seasons without consuming any type of food; To this day, it is not known exactly how many years the turtles live, however, it is insinuated that they live even more than 50 years.
Probably the most outstanding feature when talking about turtles, and also the reason why a large number of scientists suspect that these reptiles have survived since the time of the dinosaurs, going through extreme environmental changes, until today, is its beautiful shell. Specifically in the case of land turtles, they usually wear shells that have a dome shape, this particular shape allows them to easily put their head and four legs inside their shell; Due to this great ability, the turtles can protect themselves from each of their predators unless, of course, they can break their shell.
Now, on the side of sea turtles, they do not have this great ability because, in the same way as freshwater turtles, their main environment is water, so their shell is usually much more stylized, a shell which seems designed only to provide them with a much more streamlined movement under the sea.
Among sea turtles and freshwater turtles, marine turtles have this ability in a much more accentuated way because the vast majority of their skeleton is closer to their own shell, however, despite their shell of a size smaller and very stylized, the sum of the entire body of the turtles together with their shell, makes them a reptile of a large size compared to other species.
With the passing of the years and the evolution of the turtles, the large and rough legs of the land turtles, were becoming the flattened and beautiful fins for the sea turtles of today. Unlike land turtles and many species of freshwater turtles that can easily walk on land, sea turtles have to come to crawl along the shores of the beach; When these turtles make this movement, they do it in the same way that any type of four-legged land animal could do it, that is, the front left flipper moves at the same time as the left right flipper, and vice versa with its another pair of fins.
Similarly, it should be noted that in the case of the green turtle, it is different, since these turtles move their two pairs of flippers at the same time in the same direction where they are going. According to all the fossil records and the immense amount of chemical studies that have been done on different rocks, the planet Earth approximately 65 million years ago underwent very extreme changes, changes which could have ended the existence of the dinosaurs, not to mention the large number of species of land and marine animals that also became extinct, however, some groups of turtles managed to survive all this, today there are two suborders.
One of these suborders includes the turtles that have lateral necks, that is, they gather their own necks inside their shells using a lateral movement; while the other suborder is slightly more diverse and also includes sea turtles, in addition, they retract their necks in a straight line.
It should be noted that today sea turtles are divided into two families, the Dermochelyidae, this family has only one species, which is the well-known Leatherback Turtle, or as its scientific name Dermochelys coriacea indicates; on the other hand, the second family is the Cheloniidae, a family which has two subfamilies, each of these in turn, with two genera and also three species.
We can start by talking about the Chelonini subfamily, which includes Chelonia mydas, or better known as green or white turtle, Chelonia depressa, which is the Australian flat turtle or kikila turtle; finally we find the hawksbill turtle, or scientifically called Eretmochelys imbricata.
On the other hand, we also have the Carettini subfamily, this subfamily includes species such as the Caretta caretta, or better known loggerhead, loggerhead or loggerhead turtle, the Lepidochelys olivacea, or Kemp's ridley turtle; finally we can observe the Lepidochelys kempii, or better known as the olive ridley turtle. It is very important to note that a large number of scientists have recognized an eighth species of sea turtle, this is the Eastern Pacific black turtle, which was scientifically called Chelonia agassizi.
Evolutionary Adaptations
As we mentioned before, over the years and the evolution of sea turtles, these beautiful reptiles developed different adaptations to be able to survive more optimally in their environment, which in this case is water. All the eight species that were mentioned developed this type of adaptations, this has given them great results in the environment where they live and also has completely eliminated competition between all species; A great example of this can be seen in the fact that the feeding of these species is very different from each other, this means that they do not have to compete to take away their food.
Similarly, the competition to get a suitable place to walk has decreased immensely, for example, the leatherback turtle much prefers to resort to different muddy beaches, very extensive, and totally free of stones or rocks, while on the other hand, the hawksbill turtle regularly lives in small caves. In addition to everything mentioned above, when two different species of turtles use the same beach to inhabit, the most common thing is that one of these species does so a season before the other, during its corresponding season.
Among the eight species that exist, each one has particular evolutionary adaptations, a great example of this is the very colorful shell of hawksbill turtles, this shell is of the utmost importance for them when camouflaging themselves in the coral reefs where they spend the great part of your life. In the case of green turtles, they have a fairly dark shell that helps them camouflage very well in the seagrass beds where they often feed.
Loggerhead turtles or loggerhead turtles with the passing of their evolution have come to develop a very powerful jaw that serves to crush well the crabs and clams that are in their diet; on the other hand, the slender beak of hawksbill turtles can get very well into the cracks that are in the reefs to look for food, in addition to being able to destroy sponges with great ease. In the case of green turtles, like the loggerhead turtle, they have developed a very strong jaw that helps them completely tear apart the algae they feed on.
All this that has been mentioned shows us that turtles have been able to adapt to their environment to the extent possible, and that they are also essential animals for the proper functioning of the marine ecosystem throughout the world. Unfortunately, however, the evolutionary adaptations that sea turtles have developed to survive the coldest periods and many other extreme natural disasters have not properly prepared them to withstand the pressures exerted on them by human beings themselves.
Sea Turtle Reproduction
Every year without fail, sea turtles gather in different places throughout the ocean in order to mate. Some time after fertilization, the female turtles leave the seas for the shores of the beaches to dig different nests and lay their eggs; Generally, the vast majority of species spawn at night, although we can highlight the olive ridley turtle that spawns during the day. It has long been suggested that female turtles make nests for their young on the same beaches where they hatched.
After they come out of the water, the female turtles move by crawling up the entire beach until they can finally find a suitable place to lay their eggs; It is worth mentioning that if the turtles become disturbed by any noise or by lights on the beach, they will simply return to the sea without having laid their eggs.
When the females finally find a suitable place, using their flippers they dig a hole that is usually about the size of their own body, after which, using their rear flippers, they dig an even deeper pot-shaped hole. elongated; They carefully scoop sand out of the hole using one of their fins, and then scoop more sand with the other.
After digging for a while, their nest hole will be completely ready, and at this very moment the females will lay their eggs one by one, or in pairs, which also have a leathery appearance. As the tortoise uses this action, tears come out in order to keep its eyes well moist and completely free of sand. The eggs that they lay usually have an approximate diameter of between four and seven centimeters.
On average, sea turtles always lay approximately 100 eggs. However, despite this fact, in Suriname green turtles usually lay 142 eggs in each nest, while in the Galapagos Islands, for example, they only lay 80 eggs per nest. Now, in Australia, everything indicates that the kikila turtle usually lays only about 50 eggs per nest. In many parts of the world, different animals such as raccoons steal eggs from nests to feed themselves.
Finally, when the female finishes depositing all her eggs, she completely covers them with sand and flattens the ground very well; after she does this, she tries to camouflage it as much as possible by throwing sand on different sides of the beach and swinging her body around all over the place. However, despite the hard work they do to camouflage their little eggs, camouflage does not always achieve its goal, because crabs or other types of animals could dig and find them and thus eat them, while their mother is in the Water.
A female tortoise could lay a clutch more or less every two weeks while the entire reproduction stage lasts, in a single reproduction season the tortoises could make between three and eight nests, this number tells us that they arrive to lay up to a thousand eggs. For this reason, there could be such a different number in the broods from one year to another.
Probably the main reason that sea turtles lay this high number of eggs is the fact that very few baby turtles usually survive after hatching and become adults. If the nest dug by the mothers is too far down the beach, heavy rain or high tides could destroy it completely. If the nest exceeds a certain level, the vast majority or even all of the hatchlings will be female, however, if it is below this level, all the hatchlings will be male.
In case the eggs survive all the environmental difficulties they may have, such as their own predators or the weather, these eggs will hatch in approximately two months; most commonly, each and every egg hatches at the same time. Once the young begin to come out of the eggs, they begin to struggle with each other and scratch the sand on the upper side of their nest, as a consequence the sand will begin to fall and along with different egg shells; In this same way, the bottom of the nest rises little by little until it reaches the surface completely.
Once the hatchlings are already in the surface layer of sand, they will always wait until it is cool outside so they can go out without problems, this characteristic tells us that these small turtles, which usually measure about five centimeters, wait until night falls to completely abandon their nest and start their way to the sea.
Once they leave their nests, the little turtles will face one of the most difficult stages of their lives. Using their own instinct, these little hatchlings will automatically go to the brightest place on the entire horizon, which is of course, the sea, however, they could become disoriented if some lights shine inland; if this happens, the small turtles will head in that direction and unfortunately die, and likewise if they keep their way to the sea, they are still at risk of being eaten by nearby birds, raccoons, crabs or other predators.
It may seem that when they reach the sea they will be completely safe, however, this is not the case, since they have a variety of predators that lie in wait for them in the waters, predators such as sharks, seabirds and some fish species. In the first weeks of life of these little pups, they cannot stay under the ocean for too long, nor do they have the ability or strength to swim fast and effectively escape all their predators.
There is not much information about the life of the pre-adult turtles, this period of the life of the turtles is also known as a lost period. It is insinuated that the turtles that manage to survive the difficult situations they face during their first days of life, spend the following months in banks of sargassum which float aimlessly very close to the shores of the beaches. Within these banks, the turtles can take complete refuge from their predators, and they also feed without any problem on animals smaller than themselves that also live inside.
These little turtles are completely at the mercy of all sea currents until they are approximately one year old. A great example of this occurs with olive ridley turtles that are a few months old, these small turtles can be swept very easily by the Gulf Stream and even reach as far north as approximately the height of the state of Massachusetts, on the northeast coast of the United States.
Due to the little information that is available, it is not very well known at what point sea turtles usually reach the stage of maturity, however, according to different estimates, turtles reach this maturity between eight and fifty years of age. This very long period to reach this maturity represents particular problems related to the conservation of the beautiful sea turtles.
Unfortunately, these reptiles face a great number of dangers throughout their lives, such as their natural predators, hunting by human beings, capture in nets in which they die asphyxiated; All of these factors greatly diminish the ability of sea turtles to lead full lives and reproduce.
Threats
We can conclude that the breeding season is probably the most risky stage in the life of sea turtles, during this time the turtles lay an immense number of eggs. Thus, a significant number of hatchlings are eaten by their predators, or destroyed by climatic adversities, due to these threats only a few turtles manage to become adults and reproduce. In any case of some kind of disturbance to the great effort that these reptiles make, it could greatly jeopardize the ability of the tortoises to correctly maintain their population numbers.
In many places throughout the world, different activities of human beings have come to interrupt the correct reproduction of sea turtles. As the human population grows and the increase in the cost of luxury items from sea turtles, it has caused them to be wildly hunted on all the beaches of the planet to extract different parts of them, as you can be its beautiful shell.
In this same way, the constant hunting of small young turtles has caused the population of potential turtles to reproduce to decrease enormously, at the first moment these changes will not be noticed much, however, with the passing of the years this decrease in the sea turtle population will be impossible to ignore. It is important to keep in mind that if more and more young sea turtles continue to be killed, in later years the production of eggs and hatchlings that survive the large number of threats they are subjected to will be too low to maintain a good balance in the groups. of turtles
Probably, the species of turtles that are most threatened could become the youngest hawksbill turtles, since large numbers of these turtles are hunted, after this they are dissected, varnished and finally sold as simple decorative objects. Because, by many estimates, hawksbills live in very limited geographical areas and it is often much more practical to catch all of them entirely by hunting.
On the other hand, in different regions of the world turtle eggs are captured for human consumption, even in certain places practically all the eggs are collected, thus leaving a derisory amount for the natural predators of this species, which brings as consequence that it is almost impossible for the small turtles to survive, or even that they can hatch from their eggs. In the case of olive ridley sea turtles, a detrimental decline in their population has been seen due to this aforementioned egg collection, and even this is also the reason for the decline in the population of leatherback sea turtles.
The constant coastal, tourist, urban and industrial development has made the natural habitat of sea turtles more and more invaded by beings, which of course also seriously harms these animals. In a large number of coastal areas, hotels, houses and different maritime facilities have begun to be built more frequently without taking into account all the natural alterations to which the beaches are subjected by storms and different ocean currents.
Such is the number of constructions, that on the beaches where turtles generally lay their eggs, they have almost completely disappeared; In addition, although sea turtles could migrate to other beaches without much difficulty, the high urbanization of coastal areas has meant that the number and size of beaches suitable for laying their eggs is almost nil, directly affecting the ability of these reptiles to reproduce. .
Another of the great threats that sea turtles must face is their accidental capture by the nets of fishing boats. The severity of this threat tends to vary quite a bit depending on the year, because there are years in which the number of turtles suffocated by the nets of fishing boats is very high, and others in which the number is quite low; However, in the same way, the years in which the numbers drop the same represent a devastating blow for these animals, and much more limits their ability to reproduce and recover their high population over the years.
A great example of the damage that fishing boats can cause to turtles is the case of olive ridley turtles, since if these boats continue to suffocate these animals for longer, it is very possible that this species will end up becoming totally extinct. As we mentioned before, the natural habitat of sea turtles has been invaded and deteriorated over the years due to human beings, this brings as consequences periods of danger for turtles, periods of danger which are usually very long. .
The almost complete destruction of coral reefs due to high pollution, careless handling or dredging of anchors greatly decreases the food sources of sea turtles and also their protection, all of which mainly affects the hawksbill species. and loggerhead turtles.
The masses of eroded mud and the different pesticides that are dragged from agricultural areas and urban areas also contribute a lot to pollution and consequently to the destruction of coral reefs and other types of marine areas, among different reasons is because they decrease the amount of light vitally required by the animals and plants that sea turtles frequently feed on. With greater regularity, the main pollutants in the waters are assimilated by the different lower marine organisms, however, they reach high concentration levels in the upper levels of the food chain.
In this way, it can be concluded that when a turtle feeds on a crab, which has previously eaten a contaminated organism, the turtle will acquire a fairly considerable dose of contaminants in its body.
Finally, we must bear in mind that sea turtles are migratory animals, these reptiles are a common resource in many countries. The groups of turtles that lay their young in a certain country, regularly feed in the territory of a different one, for this reason it is of little use if one country protects sea turtles while the others do not. This is what usually happens in the vast majority of cases, and it is clear that if countries have a real interest in restoring the population of sea turtles, they must all cooperate with each other.
Turtles and Climate Change
It is well known that climate change can cause horrible catastrophes, among these the ability to completely extinguish different animal species stands out, especially migratory animals such as sea turtles, which are currently facing very critical environmental problems as a result. of global warming. Obviously, we must always take into account natural disasters such as hurricanes or tropical storms, which greatly increase the mortality rate of sea turtles, more specifically in shallow waters.
These natural catastrophes often cause secondary consequences, such as the alteration in migration patterns and very heavy rains often flood and completely eliminate the nests found on the beaches. An example of the impact that climate change can have is the case of the “El Niño” phenomenon, which caused a decrease in food supply and, in turn, a decrease in the reproduction and fertility of sea turtles.
Another characteristic of climate change that seriously affects these reptiles is specifically with male sea turtles, because this genus of turtles is totally determined by the temperature of their incubation. Not to mention that the places where the turtles lay their nests could disappear completely thanks to the high rise in sea level.
According to a large number of recent studies, there is clear evidence of a very serious alteration in the important beaches where turtles usually nest regularly, these alterations come as a consequence of the hurricanes, which greatly affected their nesting as well as their behavior in Regarding the reproduction of the three main species that lay their eggs in the two archipelagos, the hawksbill, green and loggerhead turtles.
The most outstanding alterations were observed in Playa Mal Tiempo, Cayo Campo and Playa El Guanal, these three beaches are located in the Los Canarreos Archipelago, which is a region of vital importance for the green turtles and loggerheads that inhabit Cuba. In addition to all this, total losses of beaches could be observed as in Cayo Anclitas, it is insinuated that due mainly to the erosion and affectation of all the vegetation due to the passage of hurricanes as in Cayo Alcatraz, both areas are found in the keys and Labyrinth of the Twelve Leguas, which is probably the main nesting place for hawksbill turtles within Cuba.
It is well known that the constant rains and very strong winds caused by hurricanes greatly affect all coastal areas, resulting in serious flooding and the displacement of significant amounts of sand, the latter being a determining factor in the success that sea turtles may have in obtaining a good number of young. Once the sea level rises due to the immense force of the winds, it produces floods and tidal waves that even reach the vegetation, this harms the three species of turtles in the same way, also at different levels, since each of these They lay their eggs at different levels of the beach.
Due to climatic changes, the number of cyclones in the waters has increased a lot, and unfortunately the reproduction period of sea turtles coincides with this; evidently, these cyclones cause the absolute destruction of all the nests, eggs and also of the newly hatched turtles. Specifically, in 2002, the great damage caused by hurricanes to these reptiles was clearly evident, since, at the time that hurricanes Lily and Isidore hit, the reproductive stage of hawksbill turtles began, which despite the fact that they have not directly affected the beaches, with the passage of time an alteration in the behavior of the nesting females could be seen.
Sea Turtle Conservation
In recent years, different governments and international organizations have shown great interest and are working to reduce as much as possible all the threats to which these beautiful reptiles are subjected. One of the main threats caused by humans is the trade in luxury items, jewelry or decoration from sea turtles. To try to control this situation that has taken hundreds of thousands of lives from these animals, a large number of countries have been associating to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or according to its acronym in English CITES.
According to this same convention, the trade of any type of product that comes from turtles is completely prohibited, except in very specific situations; unfortunately despite this measure, the illegal trade is increasing more and more each year. On the other hand, a very important number of countries have made different laws for the conservation of this species, and prohibited the sale of turtle products, or the hunting of these. A great example of these measures is the case of Suriname, where turtle eggs are collected to save them and protect them from poachers or illegal collectors, in turn to move to the nests that are threatened by the very high tide and to increase research on these animals.
In other regions of the world they have chosen to completely protect the areas where the turtles lay their eggs and, in turn, protect their food. A great example of this action is one of the main beaches where green sea turtles lay their eggs in the Caribbean Basin, which is Tortuguero, in Costa Rica, a beach which was recently declared a national park. In order to further increase the number of eggs that manage to spawn and baby turtles that find their way to the open sea without difficulty, international organizations and world governments have greatly protected the nests, or have incubated these hatchlings in completely non-public areas.
One of the main spawning areas for olive ridley turtles around the world has been Rancho Nuevo, in Mexico; the government of this region has fully protected the sea turtle nests and has also moved the eggs to the safest possible areas. After the eggs go through the entire incubation phase and the hatchlings are born they are immediately taken to the sea, even many newborn turtles in these places are first raised for a full year in different facilities of the United States government, after this year they are taken to the sea.
To reduce the number of sea turtles that are accidentally killed by suffocation in fishing nets, the United States government has invented a device which prevents turtles from getting caught in the nets at all costs, and even this device makes there are much more shrimp inside the nets, greatly benefiting the fishermen. However, in many areas of the world, fishing has been totally restricted in seasons where turtles are present in that area.
Finally, in recent years people have begun to become aware of the unbridled and irrational urbanization of coastal areas, and in turn, of the great marine pollution that this brings with it, pollution which not only affects sea turtles, but also that affects practically all the animals that live in the sea, these animals include species on which we humans depend a lot for our complete nutrition, for the operation of the pharmaceutical and chemical industries and also for the entire tourism industry.
Only urban development that recognizes the great importance of the oceans in optimal natural conditions ensures their continued production. Despite all that has been done, it still takes years, if not decades, of efforts like these to effectively reverse the steep population declines that sea turtles have suffered. Unless all human beings cooperate together to ensure the healthy life of, not only sea turtles, but all the animals that inhabit the sea, land and marine plants, our own lives are in immense danger, not to mention the lives of future generations.
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