Leatherback Sea Turtle Legacy by Tui de Roy - This weeks Big Picture

On a remote Caribbean beach, the turtles arrive. This location in Trinidad hosts the largest concentration of sea turtles in the world. Between February and July female threatened Leatherback Sea Turtles haul themselves ashore to lay their fertilized eggs in nests they dig mostly at night in the soft sandy beach.
These eggs are prime targets for predators. Crabs, vultures and shorebirds all prey upon the nutritious bounty of unhatched eggs and hatchlings. Although many thousands of eggs are laid during each cycle, only a portion of the eggs will hatch and even fewer hatchlings, helped and protected by the local villagers, will make it to the ocean to continue the legacy of the sea turtles. It is estimated that only one in a thousand young turtles survive to adulthood.
Each turtle will lay close to 100 round, soft-shell eggs in a deep nest excavated with her remarkably long hind flippers before heading back to the ocean.
While out of the water, turtles excrete excess saline through glands in their eyes. During the nesting season, beaches are textured by the impressions left by sea turtles travelling over the sand.Once the females have returned to the ocean their jobs are done.
After two months the hatchlings dig through 30 inches of sand to reach the surface.
It's a race to the relative safety of the ocean once the young make it out of the nest.
Once in the water, these young turtles follow the ocean currents to deep sea nursery habitats where they attempt to avoid predators and to find food. The females will return to their natal beaches to nest once they are mature at ages 15 to 25. The males remain at sea for their entire lives.
A local guide helps tourists collect emerging hatchlings for release in the evening when it is safer.

Businesses use red lights which will not disorient the nesting turtles.Click here to see Tui's Leatherback photos.