A Sea Turtle Gives Birth

Over the Thanksgiving break i was fortuned enough to be able to travel with my friend sofia leon to Acapulco, Mexico. There we stayed at her condo and at night we would hang out on the beach and watch as the sun would set on the ocean. What a spectacular site. One night, when were waiting on the beach, the condominium guard came and got us and told us that there was a sea turtle getting ready to give birth not to far from where we were. We walked down a ways and sure enough we saw the sea turtle it was huge! At first i was scared but then the guy protecting it said not to be that it was harmless while undergoing birth. But before the turtle would lay its eggs, it continuously used its hind flippers to dig a hole 40 to 50 centimeters deep. But as the turtle would dig the helpful men would refill the hole so it would be easier for them to retrieve once the birth was done. I asked why they had to collect the eggs and they said that at night people come around and collect the eggs to sell as food in markets or to eat them themselves, but that they were here to incubate and hatch the eggs so that in the future they can release them into the ocean.
After waiting for about 15 minutes or so the turtle began to fill the nest with many soft shelled eggs as seen in the photos above. The eggs were the size of ping pong balls and there were soon many of them. The guy counted 97 from this particular turtle, but depending on the species of sea turtle, the sea turtles can have anywhere from 50 to 200 eggs per birth. After the birth the female began to re fill the nest with sand and she smoothes the surface until the hole becomes relatively invisible, to help prevent attackers. After this the mother sea turtle slowly descends back into the ocean leaving her eggs unattended, thankfully these men where there to help. THe whole birth process took close to 45 minutes considering the fact that turtles are super slow moving. The process of sea turtle birth can take anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes and sometimes more depending on the number of eggs being laid. Getting to experience birth in person was truly an unforgettable and great learning experience. It was so cool, who new a turtle could lay so many eggs, and be so calm to let humans surround her, pet her,  and hold her eggs. I hope her babies made it to the ocean okay!



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_turtle  (under life history)