EnglishYour support for our sea turtle program is vital for the future of the hawskbill sea turtle in the Pacific Ocean. Recent research by members of the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Initiative (ICAPO), including members of our team, collected genetic samples from critically endangered hawskbill sea turtles. Samples were collected from both juvenile turtles that were feeding in mangroves and on reefs, and adult female turtles that were nesting on beaches and in mangroves.
What they found was that the hawksbills that have a life history of feeding on reefs and nesting and feeding on open coasts are a distinct population. The research indicates that hawksbill sea turtles that you can help protect in southwestern Nicaragua are mostly part of a population that comes from nests on open beaches in southwestern Nicaragua and coastal areas like the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica. These hawksbill turtles then live most of their lives foraging along the coast and in reefs, as opposed to other nearby populations that live out much of their lives feeding in mangroves.
Unfortunately, the hawksbills that are from this “open coast” subpopulation are more rare and threatened. Thus, your support from these beautiful, smallish turtles is vitally important to their future. Make a donation to support them now.
To read up on this research, click on this link.
