Turtles in North Cyprus – Sol Daniel age 12

Northern Cyprus hosts some of the most important turtle nesting beaches in the whole of the Mediterranean and in August 2008 I was lucky enough to see them hatching and people excavating the nests and watching them go out to sea.

Loggerheads (Caretta Caretta) and Green Turtles (Chelonia Mydas) are two of the most endangered species and they nest in Northern Cyprus where they are protected. They nest from the end of May until July. They dig a hole as much as one metre deep during the night and lay their eggs. When they are nesting metal cages are erected over the nests to protect them. The babies appear between August and September. They take 45-50 days to hatch. About only one in a thousand survive. Of the ones that do, the females return to the same place where they were born to lay their eggs. It is estimated that as few as 300-400 Green and 2,000 Logger head females nest annually.

Logger head turtles – the turtle gets its name form its large log like head. They eat conch (sea snails), crabs, jelly fish, fish, and seaweed. They can live until it is 50 years old.

Green Turtle – They eat jellyfish, clams and clown fish. They live up to 80 years old.

In North Cyprus there is a Society called SPOT (Society for the Protection of Turtles in North Cyprus). Volunteers monitor the nesting and excavation of the nests at the beaches and also record a lot of data. You are able to watch when there are hatchings and people meet at the ‘Goat Shed’, at Alagadi which is the main base. The Project is run by the University of Exeter.

There is a blogspot for this year’s turtle project: www.turtleproject2010.blogspot.com

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