Sea Turtles in Costa Rica Need Help

Costa Rica is home to many species of plants and animals, several of which are endangered species. Although Costa Rica is one of the leading nations in the green movement the country still has some bad practices and wildlife is suffering. Forests are often cut down to make way for cattle ranches and hotels for tourists are encroaching on already shrinking shore lines. This habitat loss is a problem for many species of both animals and plants.

Three species whose populations are dwindling are the hawksbill, leatherback, and green sea turtles. Rising ocean waters are eating away at their nesting beaches from one end while hotels and beach houses take land on the other end. This is leaving less room for the turtles to lay eggs. According to Carlos Drews, a species coordinator for the World Wildlife Fund, if this pattern continues turtles will be nesting “between the tennis courts and swimming pools”.

Whether or not you believe in global warming, rising sand temperatures are having a devastating effect on these sea turtle populations. The gender of sea turtles is determined while they are developing in the egg, and it depends entirely upon the temperature of the sand they are buried in. At 85.4 degrees Fahrenheit a batch of eggs yields about 50% male and 50% female turtles. However, when the sand reaches 89.6 degrees all turtles will be female, and when the sand reaches 93 degrees all of the hatchlings die. Volunteers often relocate eggs to cooler sand so that the male to female ration can be balanced.

Along with being threatened by habitat loss and rising temperatures sea turtle populations are also threatened by poachers. Elizabeth Rosenthal explains that young Costa Rican’s often look up to poachers because they make a lot of money; this is a problem because those young children then aspire to be poachers. Even people not looking for profit go to the beach to college turtle eggs to eat. They are considered a very tasting food by many locals who never stop to think about the animal that they are eating. Some Costa Rican’s are working to change this attitude by offering to let locals watch as newly hatched sea turtles are released for hatcheries and make their way toward the sea.

Clearly Costa Rican wildlife needs protecting or many species will go extinct. Some locals are passionate about helping to rebuild sea turtle populations, but many more don’t care about the sea turtles or think of them as an important species on this planet. While the country is working on reducing their carbon footprint and slowing deforestation, many problems still exist and ate threatening endangered species. On top of everything else, the sea turtles are in more danger than ever with the current oil spill. Volunteers play a crucial role in providing service and educating locals so that work done to preserve sea turtles can continue after volunteers are gone.