The Caribbean presents a fascinating paradox in the sea turtle conservation story. On one hand, Costa Rica hosts the world’s longest running and most iconic sea turtle conservation initiative. Meanwhile, just up the coast in the neighbouring Nicaragua, one of the world’s few legal sea turtle fisheries flourish. So how does this contradiction play out for sea turtles of the Caribbean? As we know by now sea turtles are global citizens, caring not for our political boundaries. The Caribbean...

Ever wondered why we know so little about male sea turtles? Or why most of our knowledge primarily comes from the female half of the species? Male sea turtles are notoriously elusive, and unlike their female counterparts, male turtles rarely venture onto beaches. This makes studying them in the wild a real challenge. So how much do we know about male sea turtles? In Episode 7, we welcome Brazilian Conservation Biologist, Renato Bruno, to help us unravel the mysteries of male sea turtles....

Each year, hundreds of thousands of sea turtles are accidentally caught in fishing nets—a phenomenon known as bycatch, which poses a grave threat to these already vulnerable species. “Even the death of one individual has implications for a population that’s already threatened. But in the case of fisheries, it's also not good for the reputation of the fisheries” says Dr Joanna Alfaro, a Peruvian marine biologist with 25 years of experience in marine conservation. Dr Joanna is also the Director...

After a sea turtle hatchling scurries down the beach and plunges into the waves, it vanishes into the ocean, remaining incognito for the next few years. This early period of a sea turtle's life history, often referred to as the 'lost years', has long intrigued scientists, leaving many questions about this mysterious stage. Where do these hatchlings go? And when do they transition from being 'lost' to 'found'? "The majority of flatback hatchlings are retained in the neritic environment, or...

Sea turtle hatcheries are a popular conservation strategy across the world, easily recognised as fenced enclosures on turtle nesting beaches. These enclosures house turtle eggs, relocated from natural nests on the beach, to a more controlled environment that protects them from various threats. Ideally, a hatchery would produce more hatchlings than a natural nest. However, relocating sea turtle eggs is more complex than it seems, with hatchery management being an intensive practice. "When...

Looking at an egg and wondering when and if it ever hosted life is a curiosity most of us are familiar with. But what about sea turtle eggs? With each sea turtle nest containing anywhere between 60-120 eggs, not all of them hatch into baby sea turtles - some instead exhibit hatching failure. But why do these eggs remain unhatched, and should we even care? In our third episode, we welcome Alessia Lavigne, a passionate young researcher who believes that hatching failure in threatened sea turtle...

Did you know that sea turtles take about 20-30 years to reach sexual maturity and reproduce. “The turtles that you're looking at on the beach this year may have hatched out of their eggs 35 years ago. So what happened 35 years ago is going to determine what kind of population you have now.  And what you do now is going to determine what kind of population you have 35 years from now” says Dr Jeanne Mortimer. In this second episode of Sea Turtle Stories, we delve into one of the most crucial...

The earliest ancestor of modern day sea turtles appeared about 120 million years ago. Interestingly, these species laid hard-shelled eggs, as opposed to the soft-shelled eggs that we see now. Then a big mass extinction event around 66 million years ago wiped out about 50 percent of plants and animals. But not these guys – sea turtles managed to survive! When asked 'Why sea turtles?', Dr Martin Stelfox, founder and CEO of Olive Ridley Project declares that he finds sea turtles ‘absolutely...

Did you know that sea turtles have been around since the days of the dinosaurs? Sadly, they are now threatened with extinction. Welcome to Sea Turtle Stories, a podcast where sea turtle experts from around the globe help us uncover the lives of sea turtles and the conservation practices associated with them - from the mysterious lost years of hatchlings, the overlooked ecology of male sea turtles to the workings of sea turtle hatcheries and sea turtle bycatch management in fisheries - we have...