Watch this newborn sea turtle as it's released back into the ocean
'It's a beautiful thing," one conservationist said of the occasion that brought hundreds of onlookers out one morning. These fragile turtles are vulnerable to the weather, which can dictate whether they turn out male or female -- or aren't born at all.
Hundreds of area onlookers lined the beaches of Padre Island in Corpus Christi, Texas, before dawn earlier this month. They have flocked to these shores to catch a glimpse of one of the world's most endangered sea turtle species -- and to serve as stewards in their survival.
One by one, 300 tiny Kemp's Ridley hatchlings march into nesting spaces in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, with conservationists hoping that they will return to shore later in their lifespan with a renewed population.
Mary Kay Skoruppa, sea turtle coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said that the hatchlings are fragile immediately after birth and, therefore, the species is vulnerable to extinction. After being held briefly during what is a critical but brief stage of life, the baby turtles are then released back into the Gulf only hours after hatching.
On the day AccuWeather National Reporter Bill Wadell was on hand, more than 300 hatchlings from five different nests were released at Padre Island, an act that volunteers are confident will pay off. Female Kemp's Ridleys are known to dig an egg chamber in the sand at nesting places, laying approximately 100 eggs that incubate for a period of between 50 and 60 days.
The Kemp's Ridley sea turtle is one of the most endangered species of turtle in the world, leading to conservation efforts in South Texas. (Photo via Getty Images)
The Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles are the smallest in the world, first submitted for identification in 1906 after namesake fisherman Richard M. Kemp. Once abundant in the Gulf of Mexico, the population fell off in the mid-1900s, leading to conservation actions implemented on nesting beaches.
The population crashed to a low of only 702 nests worldwide in 1985 from an estimated 40,000 in 1947.
Among those helping the species flourish is National Park Service Sea Turtle science and recovery professional Dr. Donna Shaver, who aids in the coordination of the hatchling releases that have taken place since June.
“I decided back (when the population was low) … to dedicate my career to try and help save the Kemp Ridley turtle,” Shaver told Wadell.
Volunteers gather at Padre Island to release Kemp's Ridley sea turtles into the Gulf of Mexico. (AccuWeather / Bill Wadell)
Shaver pointed out that while poaching and commercial fishing used to be the most significant threats to the species' survival, modern-day issues can be traced to warmer waters and even hotter beaches.
The sex of the turtles, she said, is determined by incubation temperatures during the middle third of egg development. Warmer weather produces females, but also does damage to the population’s potential.
“The warmer temperature kills the developing eggs, the developing embryos,” Shaver said. “It’s a lethal temperature, nothing survives … that can doom your population.”
Sea surface temperatures during May in the Gulf were 27-28 degrees Celsius (81-82 degrees Fahrenheit), between 0.5 of a degree to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the average temperature recorded from 1981 through 2010.
Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle hatchlings are released into the Gulf of Mexico with hopes of eventual repopulation. (AccuWeather / Bill Wadell)
To curb the issue, the team in South Texas works to give the turtles a controlled incubation period, leaving hatchlings with their best shot at survival. Then, once they're hatched, Shaver said that she prefers “a little bit of wind” during their release into the waters, with winds of 18 mph or more designated as “good nesting days.”
Experts advise that the best course of action to protect the turtles is to give them “plenty of space” to repopulate, along with keeping the waters clean.
“It’s a tough life out there, survivorship is not that great, but we’ve done everything we could up to this point,” Shaver said. “So, we hope some come back at 15 years of age to grace our shores with their nesting and rebuild the numbers.”
Reporting by Bill Wadell.
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