importance of hatcheries
Turtles lay their eggs in the sands of beaches where the eggs then incubate in the sand for around 60 days. There are a number of threats to the clutch like poaching, predation by crabs or goanna's, inundation by rising sea levels, coastal erosion, overgrowth and dehydration due to grass and overheating.
The building of hatcheries all but eradicate these threats to produce greatly increased success rate and healthier hatchlings when they emerge. Our greatest success from our clutches has been 99%, with only one egg that didn't hatch, that looked like it had not been fertilized to start with.
The relocation of clutches of eggs into t
Hot Chicks
&
Cool Dudes
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENT SEX DETERMINATION
Turtle embryos when laid have not yet been assigned to be female or male. The sex is actually determined by the temperature at which the nest is incubated at. Anything warmer then 29 degrees C will be female (a hot chick), and less then 29 degrees C will be male (a cool dude).
With the increase in global temperatures it has been suggested that this will led to a feminisation of the turtle population, meaning the necessity for cooling strategies in key nesting sites like here in the Conflict Islands, like shaded hatcheries, will be key for the survival of future populations.