Loggerhead Marinelife Center breaks sea turtle nest count record
Juno Beach, Fl- Sea turtle enthusiasts are celebrating in Juno Beach. Loggerhead Marinelife Center’s research biologists recorded an all-time record-breaking sea turtle nest count of 19,580 nests and counting this year. There is still have three months left in this nesting season.
Sea turtles don’t start nesting until they reach their adult stage at about 30-years-old, so conservation efforts that started decades ago are really just now starting to pay off. The center’s last record breaking nesting season was recorded in 2017 with a total of 19,085 nests. With three months left of nesting season, researchers expect the nesting numbers to continue to increase by a few more thousand nests.
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Despite the nesting success, it’s still a long road ahead for the sea turtles. Threatened and endangered species face human threats every day. One hundred percent of post-hatchlings who are admitted to the sea turtle hospital have ingested plastic.
Nesting season facts:
– Official nesting season in Palm Beach County is March 1 – Oct. 31
– There are approximately 100 eggs per nest, with an average 60 day incubation period.
– It is not known how many hatchlings reach adulthood. However, many years of research have lead experts to predict that approximately 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 10,000 eggs produce hatchlings that reach adulthood.
– You can support LMC by adopting a sea turtle nest at marinelife.org/help/adopt/