Conservationists Release Endangered Baby Sea Turtles Back Into the Ocean With Satellite Trackers, Here’s Why

Amaze Lab

Sea turtles are in trouble, with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reporting that there are likely only around 25,000 of them left in the wild. Now, conservationists in Thailand are trying to combat their dwindling numbers.

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:04 Leatherback sea turtles are in trouble,

00:06 with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

00:08 reporting that there are likely only around 25,000 of them

00:12 left in the wild.

00:13 Now conservationists in Thailand are trying to combat

00:16 their dwindling numbers.

00:17 Leatherback sea turtles are only recently

00:19 returning to southern Thailand for their annual egg laying.

00:22 Each season, they are expected to lay upwards of 25 eggs.

00:25 However, most don't survive to mate and lay eggs themselves.

00:29 With the senior fishery biologist

00:30 at Thailand's Department of Marine and Coastal Resources

00:33 saying about it, quote, "0.1% to 0.2%

00:36 is the survival rate of leatherback turtle hatchlings

00:39 making it to adulthood.

00:40 If 100 eggs hatch from a single nest,

00:43 we'd need 10 just for one or two turtles

00:45 to survive to adulthood."

00:46 That's why they're now releasing 11 baby leatherbacks

00:49 into the wild after they were rescued, each one tagged

00:52 with a satellite tracker, with the researchers hopeful

00:54 that they will survive and that scientists

00:56 can glean some data that will aid in conservation efforts.

00:59 Specifically, they are looking at leatherback sea turtle

01:01 travel routes, possibly eventually opening

01:04 protective corridors for the creatures.

01:06 Thailand is one of only five countries that

01:08 have been able to successfully nurse baby leatherback sea

01:11 turtles up to their first year.

01:14 [MUSIC PLAYING]

01:17 (upbeat music)

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