Journey To The Sea... Or City

    In early summer, a green sea turtle, only two inches long, was in her egg. The egg shell was pressing against her in all directions. She wiggled around, using a small point on the tip of her beak called an egg tooth to bang against her enclosure, desperately trying to stretch her flippers. So little space… nothing seemed to be working. She was on the verge of giving up when she felt the shell begin to give way. With renewed effort, she bashed the shell in its weakening point. She could finally squeeze through.

    Upon exiting her shell she blinked her eyes, and was met with an incredible, amazing, extraordinary...nothing. She was in total darkness. She could sense rather than see the presence of other sea turtles--her sisters. Some instinct told her and all the other hatchlings to crawl upwards. They crawled up and slipped down, taking soil with them, slowly starting to dig away from the nest. As time went on, some late hatchers joined them.

    They lost track of time, all they knew was that they had reached the surface. The nest mates breathed in their first breath of fresh air. The night was cool. To their left, there were bright lights along the horizon. Some instinct told them that going to the light would bring them to great things. As one, they began crawling towards it.


About The Story


    Here’s how the story ends: most of the green sea turtle hatchlings never make it to the ocean. Like so many others, they’ve been deceived by artificial lights. Some of them will be found and redirected by caring humans, but most won’t.

    After eggs are laid, the sex of sea turtles is determined by the temperature at which the eggs develop. When eggs are warm females are born, and when eggs are cool males are born. Due to climate change, 99% of sea turtles hatch as females. That is why the turtles in the story are females.


Hatchlings

    When sea turtles hatch they will take a few days to dig out of their nest. They usually emerge when temperatures are cooler, typically at night. When they emerge, they come out all at once, locate the brightest light on the horizon, and all start heading towards it. In a natural setting, the moon and stars reflecting off the sea is the brightest light. Due to the mass expansion of humans and our artificial lights, that may not be the case. Turtles that are heading away from the ocean towards civilizations will enter the first water source they find whether it be a pond, a stream, or perhaps a cozy swimming pool. Many won’t make it this far.



Mother's False Crawl


    The danger begins even before the turtles get a chance to hatch. When sea turtles are nesting, they search for nice, dark, sandy beaches. The problem is, where are the dark, sandy beaches? Turtles now compete with tourists, businesses, and local residents. The lights from these places discourage them from nesting. After many false crawls (going through the motions of nesting without actually laying eggs) they may resort to laying them in dangerous places, or potentially in the ocean itself. Almost none of these hatchlings will survive.



How To Help


1. Make sure your lights aren’t visible from nearby beaches during nesting season (March-October). You can do this by using LPS lights, or amber LED lights. You can also turn off unnecessary lights and use thick curtains to prevent light from escaping through your windows.


2. Don’t go for a walk on the beach at night during nesting season. This may prevent sea turtles from nesting even if you don’t use flashlights and think you are being very quiet.


3. Don’t enter marked off nesting sites or places where you think there may be a nest.


4. If you see a disoriented sea turtle hatchling, call local conservation authorities.


5. Talk about the threats sea turtles face from light pollution. The more people know, the more people can help.

Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 30, 2023 at 1:48 PM

    Well done! Good use of storytelling from the baby turtle’s perspective.

    ReplyDelete

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