 affected by the funding available in certain years.
The overall rate of incubation for the 11 year period from 1995 to 2005 is 78%!!
Our long-range goal is to have the Camp staffed year-round. While sea turtle conservation is currently the principal concern, having a full staff year-round would allow the Camp to work on added preservation projects such as protection of waterfowl and other inhabitants of the adjacent mangrove-filled estuary during the months when turtles are not nesting. We would like to see the Camp become a self-sustaining center for wildlife conservation, education and investigation, particularly regarding the marine turtle; with adequate fiscal and human resources to protect the surrounding natural resources via a network of volunteer, educational, and ecotourism programs.
Other Camp goals include to enhance the technical sea turtle programs. To this end it need funds for: nest storage and monitoring equipment for the incubation areas; tagging equipment; and sponsorship of several volunteers to work in the Camp who can not pay their own costs. The University of Guadalajara and “Selva Negra” (a non-profit organization sponsored in part by the singing group “Mana") have both been helping with volunteers and “Selva Negra” also assists with some funding, food and supplies.
To reach these goals the Camp seeks volunteers, and donations from individuals, companies, and foundations via the world wide web, mailings, and personal networking. Please help by becoming a volunteer or by making Donations to provision the Camp, sponsor a volunteer, or allow the Camp to purchase needed equipment.]]>
The Camp is staffed from mid-May through late-December with full-time veterinary and biologist technicians, and volunteers when available. Volunteers have certain work duties during their stay. The volunteers give their time with the realization that they are present to serve a good cause.
The sea turtle program consists of: night-time Turtle Patrols of the first five miles of adjoining beach; collection of nests for incubation; liberation of hatchlings; monitoring of tides, weather, and moon phases; monitoring of nests used as a control group; the recording of numbers, measurements, and other data; and in the future tagging of adult turtles.
The object of Turtle Patrol is to locate turtle nests as soon as the eggs are laid, place the eggs in special incubation areas where they can be protected from predators including man, and help control temperature and humidity of the nesting area in order to achieve a significantly higher hatch rate. After hatching, the nests are cleaned and baby turtles are released at night, again to protect them from predators and from succumbing to hot sun and sand.
You can view, print, or download the results of the sea turtle protection program for 2006, along with a review of the past 7 years, by clicking on this link:
Turtle Camp Results 2006 English.pdf
The estuary is home to a species of crocodile mostly unique to Mexico, which does not have homo sapiens as part of its food chain but nevertheless has been hunted vigorously.
The crocodile program includes census of the crocodile population in the estuary, measurements and tagging, collection of nests and incubation, care of young in captivity until release, and establishment of nesting zones in the estuary and protection of these areas. Sections of the estuary may be closed to the public for the benefit of the crocodiles.
After the volunteer base becomes more consistent, the Camp hopes to begin accepting visits from ecotourists and students or professionals who will visit and or work in the Camp for educational purposes. The educational programs may include introductions to flora and fauna, university-driven programs for scientific investigation and thesis work, basic classes in Spanish for foreigners, and classes in Mexican culture and art.]]>
The Platanitos Sea Turtle Camp (at Playa Las Tortugas on Costa Tortuga) is located on the Pacific coast approximately 70 miles north of Puerto Vallarta in the State of Nayarit, Mexico. The Camp is regulated and directed by Mexico’s National Commission of Protected Areas, part of the Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources.
The Turtle Camp’s home is an exceptional place. It lies between the beach and over 1100 acres of pristine salt-water tidal estuary on the north end of 11 miles of beach branded as “Costa Tortuga”.
Behind the Camp are channels and pools filled with mangroves, waterfowl and an enormous array of other flora and fauna. Along with species of sea turtle that nest on the beach, the estuary is nesting habitat for a large number of birds including many that migrate from the Rocky Mountain corridor. Just east of the estuary, semi-tropical forested hills begin rising to eventually give form to the Sierra Madre, home to native Indian tribes such as the Cora and colorful Huichol.
Selva Negra (Black Forest), a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of the environment, is helping to fund operation the Platanitos Sea Turtle Camp along with the developer and homeowners of Playa Las Tortugas. Selva Negra was founded and is operated by the musical group Mana.
The Turtle Camp depends on donations and ecovolunteers to help it function. Volunteers from towns and cities like Guadalajara, Mexico, as well as international volunteers, help by donating their labor. The ecovolunteers pay their own expenses to cover meals and incidental costs.
The Turtle Camp is a work in progress. It is made more successful by the help of volunteers, both international and national who donate their time and physical labor to help preserve the endangered sea turtles that come to nest at Costa Tortuga every year.
The primary volunteer duties are carried out at night when the sea turtles leave the ocean to lay their eggs and include patrolling the beach, even in stormy weather, collecting turtle eggs, and releasing hatchlings to the sea. By joining in this extraordinary event volunteers will realize that their help truly improves the odds of survival for these gentle creatures. In addition to working on turtle patrol the volunteers are expected to help with cooking and cleaning duties in the camp.
As the Turtle Camp is located away from city life, the living conditions are different from what many are accustomed to. The weather is subtropical in the summer and many insects are present. Utilities (i.e., running water and electricity) are basic and may be temporarily lost due to weather or mechanical failure.
While there is always a lot of work to be done, there is also time to relax and make new friends. The experience gained by each individual during their visit here will depend on their desire to enjoy life and to blend into the Mexican culture, but by keeping an open mind volunteers are sure see many benefits from their time in the Turtle Camp..]]>
Even though sea turtles are an endangered species, man has not stopped stealing eggs, to sell as purported aphrodisiacs, or butchering the adult turtles for meat and oil. Even today, turtle shells are illegally made into unnecessary items like combs and cigarette lighters. Clearly this needs to stop—and education is the key.
The Sea Turtle Conservation Camp is dedicated to educating especially the children—to teach them the importance not only of sea turtles but all creatures on our earth. The Camp staff, working on behalf of Mexico’s National Commission of Protected Areas, reaches out to the neighboring local schoolteachers and students and has already begun to to educate them on environmental issues. Volunteers and visitors to the Camp also have the opportunity to learn how they can help protect sea turtles.
Eco-tourism is one of the fastest growing aspects of the travel industry. The Turtle Camp offers the possibility to eco-tourists of learning about the work performed by the Camp, participating in patrol of the beach to gather nests, helping to prepare nests for release, and the release of hatchlings.
As the Camp grows, they plan to invite professionals to teach educational programs.
Sea Turtles are vertebrates belonging to the Reptile class and Chelonidae family. They are policotherms and ectotherms, so their body activity is dependent on the ambient temperature, and so for this reason the turtles are distributed in tropical and subtropical waters of the world.
There are three species of sea turtle that nest on this beach, with the Olive Ridley being predominant.
Olive Ridley Sea Turtle
Spanish name: Tortuga Golfina
Latin Name: Lepidochelys Olivacea
Status: Endangered
Average Size: 66 cm long and 41 kg
Special Features: Most abundant of all sea turtles
Nesting Period: July to December
Life in the Sea
Sea turtles pass the majority of their life in the sea. Studies using satellite-tracking devices have demonstrated that on average a sea turtle remains 0.03 % of its life cycle on land for reproductive activities and the other 99.97 % of the time is spent in the sea. Of course, this is only the case for the females; the males never leave the sea. The majority of studies on the sea turtles, however, have centred on the time spent on the beach. Therefore, there is still little understood about the mechanisms of orientation and navigation in the open sea through which the Olive Ridley sea turtles return to the same beach on which they were born to nest, migrating 1000’s km between their feeding grounds to these nesting beaches.
There are several proposed mechanisms of orientation and navigation for the Olive Ridley sea turtles:
• Chemo sensitivity: The ability to detect very small concentrations of chemicals from the nesting beach in the water. Indeed this phenomenon has been demonstrated in the Green turtles (Chelonia mydas).
• Wave Sensitivity: The ability to utilize geo-magnetic fields of the Earth,