到墨西哥做海龜保育是一直期待的，終於機會黎喇！
海龜保育工作開始喇！
先講今晚先後見到兩隻龜媽媽上岸生蛋，心情好激動啊！
我們於晚上7:30從酒店出發，駕車1.5小時到達海灘。這個海灘是封閉式的，原因是一排resort圍著海灘，要到海灘就先付錢住酒店吧。一個最近的出入是restricted的，所以海灘於早上是遊人使用，入夜後就是海龜的重要繁殖地。
這個海龜保育團體叫Red tortuguera, 他們與酒店合作，晚上海灘減少燈光(因海龜對光非常敏感)、提供地方予海龜蛋護養(hatchery) 、金錢上來自住客的部分收入成為捐款給予海龜保育機構、還有我們的晚餐也是餐廳提供的。所以這裡是個ok安全的海龜繁殖海灘。當然海龜BB 的天敵多的是，例如這裡有浣熊、貓、鱷魚(!) 及偷龜蛋的人類(昨夜隔離team朋友發現有個巢被偷了蛋，聽聞會賣到附近餐廳)。但這個地方已經有32年了，凌晨時份真的一個人也沒有，感覺是十分安全。
有幾種海龜都在此下蛋，這裡也是唯一一個墨西哥Olive ridley 的繁殖地。其他還有全世界最大的Leatherback (2米！希望有機會遇見啦！)。現在是冬天(晚上很凍啊，只得12度)，也是海龜繁殖季尾了，這裡是海龜繁殖地最南的一個海灘，每晚上岸的海龜不太多。夏天時是旺季，有時候有多達90多隻海龜於同一晚上上岸生蛋！
我們的工作是通宵在海龜巡邏，工作包括：
1. 看看有沒有海龜媽媽在下蛋
2. 尋找媽媽下蛋後離開了的海龜巢
3. 看看hatchery內有沒有海龜BB出世了
4. 放生海龜BB (係！放生！)
今晚，晚上9時到達海灘，把海龜BB放生後，返到飯堂吃晚飯途中遇上海龜媽媽在下蛋！於是晚飯都忘了吃~~(最後凌晨1時才吃飯)
這隻是Olive ridley turtle, 身型不算大，可能是剛剛第一次做媽媽的海龜 (甲長80cm, 闊6cm)。發現她時是22:30，她正在挖洞，因此這時候不能打擾她，因若她覺得危險就會離開不下蛋了。等啊等，終於到22:50她開始下蛋啦，看著她生產的時候發出納悶聲，辛苦了媽媽。這個時候她十分專心下蛋，還可輕輕摸摸她呢。挖的洞大約50cm深，龜蛋像乒乓球一樣大小。
大概23:30左右，下蛋完畢，媽媽花了10-15分鐘把洞埋起來，就返回大海去了。
我們在她下蛋到將近完結時就把蛋拿走，數數目，有82隻蛋，然後拿到hatchery埋起來。這個目的是為增加海龜BB孵化的機會率：
1. 避開天敵
2. 海龜BB在此地自然孵化也可能因酒店那邊太亮而沒辦法回到海裡去
3. 這個海灘早上還是有繁忙的人類活動，巢或會被破壞
. . .
Heading to Mexico to serve sea turtle conservation work is my dream, now i am going to work on it!
So excited that my sea turtle conservation work starts! Tonight we met two mother turtles come to the beach and lay their eggs!
We leave hostel at 7:30pm and drived 1.5 hours to the destinated beach which is located at PVR. This beach was enclosed by several hotels and the nearest entrance was restricted. So the only way to get into the beach is to pay the hotels. For this reason, this beach is quite a safe place for the sea turtles to breed here at night, as no people will disturb the turtles.
The organization i worked with is called Red tortuguera. They make deal with hotels for turtle conservation: lesser lighting to lower the disturbance to the turtles; provide places for turtle hatchery; donation from visitors to the organization; our dinner every night, etc. And therefore it is a safe breeding site. Though there are still some predators like racoons, cats, crocodiles and people who steal eggs to sell to the restaurants will still threaten the turtles. This beach already developed 32 years so it should be a safe breeding site.
There are several species breed here, including the world largest sea turtle - Leatherback. Here is the only beach that Olive ridley will lay their eggs in Mexico. Now is winter time, there are just few turtles come to the beach, but in high season there may hv about 90 turtles in a night! (busy work!)
What we do is to
1. Patrol the beach to see any mother turtles laying their eggs
2. Find nest (mother has gone)
3. Check the nests in hatchery see if any new born babies
4. If yes, release them to the sea
Tonight, we arrived at the beach at 9pm. Relased some babies. On our way to dinner we met a mother, she was making her nest!
This is Olive ridley with small size. Probably a young mother and its her first time to lay eggs. She was digging her nest at 22:30 and we patiently waited for her without giving any disturbance as she will leave her nest if she thinks there is any sign of danger. After that at around 22:50, she started to lay eggs. At that time she was so concentrated at her work and we could even touch her softly. Her nest was about 50cm deep and the eggs looks like pingpong balls. About 23:30, she finished her work and put back the sand to cover her nest and go back to the ocean.
At the time when the mother almost finished laying her eggs, we took the eggs out of the nest and will incubate in the hatchery to increase the chance of hatching:
1. Take them away from the predators
2. If the babies hatch here they may not be able to get back to the ocean because of the lighting from the hotels is much stronger than the wave reflection light
3. Busy human activities in the morning and the nest may be distroyed
Btw, she has layed 82 eggs!
#seaturtleconservation
海龜保育工作開始喇！
先講今晚先後見到兩隻龜媽媽上岸生蛋，心情好激動啊！
我們於晚上7:30從酒店出發，駕車1.5小時到達海灘。這個海灘是封閉式的，原因是一排resort圍著海灘，要到海灘就先付錢住酒店吧。一個最近的出入是restricted的，所以海灘於早上是遊人使用，入夜後就是海龜的重要繁殖地。
這個海龜保育團體叫Red tortuguera, 他們與酒店合作，晚上海灘減少燈光(因海龜對光非常敏感)、提供地方予海龜蛋護養(hatchery) 、金錢上來自住客的部分收入成為捐款給予海龜保育機構、還有我們的晚餐也是餐廳提供的。所以這裡是個ok安全的海龜繁殖海灘。當然海龜BB 的天敵多的是，例如這裡有浣熊、貓、鱷魚(!) 及偷龜蛋的人類(昨夜隔離team朋友發現有個巢被偷了蛋，聽聞會賣到附近餐廳)。但這個地方已經有32年了，凌晨時份真的一個人也沒有，感覺是十分安全。
有幾種海龜都在此下蛋，這裡也是唯一一個墨西哥Olive ridley 的繁殖地。其他還有全世界最大的Leatherback (2米！希望有機會遇見啦！)。現在是冬天(晚上很凍啊，只得12度)，也是海龜繁殖季尾了，這裡是海龜繁殖地最南的一個海灘，每晚上岸的海龜不太多。夏天時是旺季，有時候有多達90多隻海龜於同一晚上上岸生蛋！
我們的工作是通宵在海龜巡邏，工作包括：
1. 看看有沒有海龜媽媽在下蛋
2. 尋找媽媽下蛋後離開了的海龜巢
3. 看看hatchery內有沒有海龜BB出世了
4. 放生海龜BB (係！放生！)
今晚，晚上9時到達海灘，把海龜BB放生後，返到飯堂吃晚飯途中遇上海龜媽媽在下蛋！於是晚飯都忘了吃~~(最後凌晨1時才吃飯)
這隻是Olive ridley turtle, 身型不算大，可能是剛剛第一次做媽媽的海龜 (甲長80cm, 闊6cm)。發現她時是22:30，她正在挖洞，因此這時候不能打擾她，因若她覺得危險就會離開不下蛋了。等啊等，終於到22:50她開始下蛋啦，看著她生產的時候發出納悶聲，辛苦了媽媽。這個時候她十分專心下蛋，還可輕輕摸摸她呢。挖的洞大約50cm深，龜蛋像乒乓球一樣大小。
大概23:30左右，下蛋完畢，媽媽花了10-15分鐘把洞埋起來，就返回大海去了。
我們在她下蛋到將近完結時就把蛋拿走，數數目，有82隻蛋，然後拿到hatchery埋起來。這個目的是為增加海龜BB孵化的機會率：
1. 避開天敵
2. 海龜BB在此地自然孵化也可能因酒店那邊太亮而沒辦法回到海裡去
3. 這個海灘早上還是有繁忙的人類活動，巢或會被破壞
這位媽媽共下了82隻蛋呢！
. . .
Heading to Mexico to serve sea turtle conservation work is my dream, now i am going to work on it!
So excited that my sea turtle conservation work starts! Tonight we met two mother turtles come to the beach and lay their eggs!
We leave hostel at 7:30pm and drived 1.5 hours to the destinated beach which is located at PVR. This beach was enclosed by several hotels and the nearest entrance was restricted. So the only way to get into the beach is to pay the hotels. For this reason, this beach is quite a safe place for the sea turtles to breed here at night, as no people will disturb the turtles.
The organization i worked with is called Red tortuguera. They make deal with hotels for turtle conservation: lesser lighting to lower the disturbance to the turtles; provide places for turtle hatchery; donation from visitors to the organization; our dinner every night, etc. And therefore it is a safe breeding site. Though there are still some predators like racoons, cats, crocodiles and people who steal eggs to sell to the restaurants will still threaten the turtles. This beach already developed 32 years so it should be a safe breeding site.
There are several species breed here, including the world largest sea turtle - Leatherback. Here is the only beach that Olive ridley will lay their eggs in Mexico. Now is winter time, there are just few turtles come to the beach, but in high season there may hv about 90 turtles in a night! (busy work!)
What we do is to
1. Patrol the beach to see any mother turtles laying their eggs
2. Find nest (mother has gone)
3. Check the nests in hatchery see if any new born babies
4. If yes, release them to the sea
Tonight, we arrived at the beach at 9pm. Relased some babies. On our way to dinner we met a mother, she was making her nest!
This is Olive ridley with small size. Probably a young mother and its her first time to lay eggs. She was digging her nest at 22:30 and we patiently waited for her without giving any disturbance as she will leave her nest if she thinks there is any sign of danger. After that at around 22:50, she started to lay eggs. At that time she was so concentrated at her work and we could even touch her softly. Her nest was about 50cm deep and the eggs looks like pingpong balls. About 23:30, she finished her work and put back the sand to cover her nest and go back to the ocean.
At the time when the mother almost finished laying her eggs, we took the eggs out of the nest and will incubate in the hatchery to increase the chance of hatching:
1. Take them away from the predators
2. If the babies hatch here they may not be able to get back to the ocean because of the lighting from the hotels is much stronger than the wave reflection light
3. Busy human activities in the morning and the nest may be distroyed
Btw, she has layed 82 eggs!
#seaturtleconservation
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