With the Second Advent of drone pipe , we have unprecedented access to wildlife phenomena that we would n’t unremarkably see . This privilege is highlighted in young footage of what may be the largest drove of ocean turtles ever caught on photographic camera , and it ’s breathtaking .
Every yr , hundreds of thousands of female sea turtle make their way to Costa Rica ’s Ostional National Wildlife Refuge to lay their eggs on the beach . Established in 1983 as a protected area specifically for the polo-neck , it ’s think the refuge is home to the second - big gathering of turtles in the world . Only Mexico ’s Oaxaca has more during egg - laying season .
This particular swarm of ocean turtles , mostlyolive ridleys , accumulating out at ocean was filmed by biologistVanessa Bézyback in November 2016 . Bézy , who has studied these mass arrival – know as arribadas – for years , quickly pull in she had caught something special on tv camera .
“ I immediately knew there was something particular going on , ” Bézy toldNational Geographic . “ To this Clarence Day I ’m still blown away by the video . They look like bumper cars out there . ”
She has released the footage now , to highlight the menace of touristry to this important turtleneck refuge . There are presently protections in billet that forestall growth encroaching on the nesting site , as well as responsible touristry that allow mass to watch the incredible site of nesting turtles andhatchlings making their journeyto the sea , but Bézy says due to the speed and growth of developments in and around Ostional , more regulating need to be put in place to ensure the base hit of this universe .
According to the video , on the day the footage was filmed there was the eq of 5,000 polo-neck in an area the size of a football field , covering a total region of more than 1,000 football playing field , at a denseness of rough one turtle for every square meter . Because turtles can be seen rising to the control surface it ’s thought even more turtles were present unseen beneath the waves .
It ’s not jazz why so many turtles gather here for nesting , or even how they know to yield to the beach where they were yield . One suggestion is they apply theEarth ’s magnetic landing field as a guide . This finicky beach in Costa Rica may be orientated advantageously towards sea currents , or have a picky kind of gumption choose by turtles .
It ’s still unclear too why the turtle pile up in such quantity . speciality in numbers is a hypothesis , as hatchling survival rate isfamously low . For olive ridleys – the 2nd small sea polo-neck – which lay around 100 eggs , and assemble in number of up to 10,000 to cuddle , just0.2 percent of nut will subsist to hatch , and only 1 per centum of those will survive to maturity .
Arribadas last for five night normally , and the incubation period for the eggs is around 45 days and the whole affair occurs between August and October each twelvemonth like clockwork , so for tourists , it ’s often a top destination on their travel . Hotel developer are capitalize on that , and settlements are arise promptly in the region . Bézy hop that by releasing the footage it will play up how alone the part is and that it needs to be protected , now more than ever .
[ H / T : National Geographic ]
