30.10.2019

Sea turtle mediterranean sea. Türkiye, Dalyan - “Caretta Caretta Turtles! You may or may not see a sea tadpole! Oh little Turkish Venice! What organization is Archelon

Loggerhead or big-headed turtle (lat. caretta caretta) is another representative of the sea turtle family, which has been greatly affected by human activities. You can meet him in the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In addition, loggerheads are frequent guests in the Mediterranean Sea and even looked into Russia a couple of times - they were seen in the Barents Sea, in Peter the Great Bay and in the Kerch Strait.

Like hawksbill, this turtle has a heart-shaped shell, only its dimensions are slightly larger - on average from 90 to 110 cm, and the largest loggerhead had a carapace 122 cm long. Its color can be olive, red-brown or brown. The lower part - the plastron - is a lighter shade.

The head of the loggerhead is quite large (they call it a big-headed turtle for a reason!). It is round and short, with a massive jaw, with which the turtle crushes strong shells and shells of the inhabitants. sea depths. The upper part of the head is covered with large scutes; near the eyes there are two pairs of prefrontal scutes. There are also 5 pairs of costal shields on the turtle's back. It has blunt claws on its front paws. Interestingly, the male is quite easy to distinguish from the female by the presence of a long tail.

Loggerheads live at sea most of the time. They even sleep on the surface of the water, slowly drifting along with the current. Mating takes place right there - sometimes with one, and sometimes with several partners. Pregnant females swim to the shore, wait for darkness, and only then come to the surface to lay their eggs.

Most nesting loggerhead turtles can be seen on the island of Masirah in Oman - according to rough estimates, there are at least 30 thousand of them. In addition, loggerheads also liked the coast of Florida - 6-15 thousand females nest here. Many turtles get ashore in Australia.

flickr/paulmichaels79uf

In one clutch there are usually no less than a hundred eggs. The incubation period lasts from 47 to 61 days. Little turtles do not immediately get out of the hole - for some time they sit in the sand and gain strength. And they will need strength, because they need to have time to get to the ocean, avoiding meeting with seagulls, crabs and other predators who have gathered for lunch.

However, this danger is not so terrible for the species as a whole - nature has provided for everything, which is why one adult turtle makes at least 4-5 clutches per season. That's just taste preferences She couldn't take the person into account. And although loggerhead meat is tasteless, and its shell is not suitable for making souvenirs, the big-headed turtle still found something that can please people - these are its eggs.

What only of them was not prepared! And they added it to confectionery products, and made delicious desserts. And in Cuba, they generally preferred not to wait until the turtle laid eggs, and they caught pregnant females in order to smoke their eggs right in the oviducts, and then sell them as a kind of sausages.

Unfortunately, the result of such activities is quite predictable - loggerheads are included in the Red Book, where the status of their species is assessed as vulnerable. National laws Greece, Cyprus, the United States and Italy protect the loggerhead turtles, and the collection of their eggs is prohibited almost all over the world.

We visited this little Turkish Venice this year.

Dalyan means fishing in Turkish.

There are also many legends about the river. One of them is about twins, a boy and a girl. About how the girl Biblios fell in love with her brother Kaunos. When she revealed her feelings, her brother had to leave the city. The girl from unrequited love decides to die, throw herself off the biggest cliff. But the goddess of spring waters does not allow the girl to die to death. They turn the girl into the "Dalyan" spring.

The place is really very beautiful.

Of course the weather was rainy that day. This is a little unlucky. The tour costs 65 euros. Bought at the hotel from tour operators. But outside the hotel 2 times less. It took 3.5 hours to get to this picturesque place. The price of the tour included meals.

1. Catching blue crabs

Here in such a place, we caught blue crab. For bait.

We caught such beauties, we could take pictures with them, then let them go free. Back to sea. After fishing, we were offered a lunch of crabs for a fee. When we bought the tour, we were told that a crab lunch was included in the price. But it turned out differently. For one serving 7 ye. + drinks and beer was also paid.

On the palate, sweet, tender, juicy, well, very tasty. (You could also make a wish).

After such a dinner, we went to look at the Caretta-Caretta turtles. And suddenly we hear from the guide... That turtles can not be seen.

On the way to the turtles admired:

2. Lycian tombs

Another name is "Royal Tombs". Beautiful, of course, the tombs are empty. But an architectural monument.

And so we arrived at the habitat of turtles ... And in reality, we did not see any of them. Maybe the weather was bad.

3. Visit the turtles

We didn’t see turtles, but we visited one of the most the most beautiful beaches from tuzu. Where is the Aegean Sea.

Sunbeds were also paid, and for some reason no one told us about this either. But the weather was not very good. Therefore, it was not possible to swim in the sea.

Zakynthos(Greek island in the Ionian Sea) is known not only for the bay Navagio. It is often called "turtle island" - the most big turtles cartetta-cartetta was chosen Zakynthos. This island has become a kind of maternity hospital and nursery for turtles.

Zakynthos- the largest nesting place in the Mediterranean for loggerhead turtles (sea bigheaded turtle, or carriage).

A little about carriage-caretta turtles

Caretta tortoise most well studied sea turtles, adults weigh from 77 to 160 kg, reach a length of 80 to 115 cm.

Loggerhead (sea big-headed turtle, or carriage)

Loggerhead turtles have become an endangered species and main reason such a trend is mass tourism in their nesting areas.
Water pollution and fishing activities have also contributed.

Female carriage turtles reach sexual maturity at around 30 years of age and return to their birthplace to mate and lay eggs. 80% of turtles return to Zakynthos. Turtles nest every 2-3 years.
The turtles hatch after about two months, at night and immediately go to the sea.

Happy Birthday Baby!

The length of newborn turtles is approximately 4.5 cm, they weigh 20 grams. Only those that reach the open sea survive.

Good luck!

Only one in 1,000 cubs survives and reaches sexual maturity.

The beginning of a long life

National Marine Park in Zakynthos

To save the turtle population Zakynthos founded in 1999 National Marine Park. Its main task is to preserve the ecosystem and create conditions for increasing the population of carriage-caretta turtles.
Part national park includes 6 beaches of Laganos Bay, small islands Marathonissi (Marathonissi) And Peluso.
About 3,000 turtle nests appear here every year, which are monitored by park staff and volunteers.

Turtle nests on the beaches of Laganos

Under close attention are not only turtles, but Mediterranean seals monachus-monachus.

Where can you see turtles?

The easiest and most harmless (for nature) way is to visit the island in May - June. At this time, turtles come to mate and swim very close to the shore. Most of them rush to the beaches of the bay Laganos. A turtle swimming nearby is not uncommon during this period.

In May - June, turtles swim very close to the shore

Throughout beach season from anywhere on the island you will be offered boat trips on glass bottom boats, yachts, boats, during which you can see turtles.

Another popular way is an excursion to the island. Marathonissi: there are not only two excellent beaches (sandy and pebbly), but also numerous nests of turtles (respectively, many adult turtles in coastal waters). The island is part of National marine park .

Marathonissi (Marathonissi)

Rules for tourists on the beaches of Zakynthos

On those beaches Zakynthos, which are located on the territory of the National Marine Park, there are a number of rules that must be followed by all tourists (all of them are aimed at preserving the turtle population):

night stay on the beach is prohibited - turtles usually hatch at night;
at night, you can’t use any sources of artificial lighting (lamps, car headlights, etc.) on the beach and next to it - turtles use moonlight on the water as a guide, extraneous light sources knock them off the route;
It is strictly forbidden to leave garbage on the beach - plastic bag can kill not only baby turtles, but also adults if it gets into the sea;
on the beaches you can not move on bicycles, scooters, etc.;
in places designated as laying eggs, you can not install sunbeds, umbrellas, awnings;
in Laganos Bay it is forbidden to use motor boats and boats;
it is desirable to be located no further than 5 meters from the water's edge - there may be masonry further;
sand castles and other structures can only be made near the surf and do not forget to destroy them before leaving - they can become an insurmountable obstacle for turtles;
you can’t make noise on the beaches, play with a ball, rackets, the rest here is passive (it’s better to go to the beaches of Mykonos for fun).

There are employees on the beaches National Marine Park and volunteers. They will always tell you what to do and what not to do, listen to them!

It is strictly forbidden to dig up the laying of eggs, this is punishable by law.

Zakynthos very popular with tourists from all over the world. Every year, hundreds of thousands of tourists rest here and this leads to a catastrophic deterioration in the situation with turtles. It is in the power of each of us to make sure that not one or two turtles survive out of a thousand, but more.

Who is Caretta Caretta?

Caretta caretta ( Latin name Caretta caretta, she is Loggerhead, she is also a big-headed sea turtle. Adults can reach 1 m in length and weigh up to 200 kg. The massive head of Caretta Caretta is covered with large shields. The color of the shell is brownish-red. These turtles feed mainly on mollusks, sponges, small fish, crabs, jellyfish and sometimes aquatic plants. Loggerhead habitats are almost all tropical seas. But despite the fact that these turtles live in the sea, they breed on land. The female crawls out of the sea onto the sandy shore, chooses a place with a slight slope behind the tide line and digs a nest with her hind legs, where she lays her eggs. In one laying of a sea turtle there can be up to 120 eggs. The shell of the eggs is soft, leathery, the size of the eggs is 3 - 4 cm. Then she buries the eggs with sand and goes into the sea. After about 2 months, cubs are born. Most often, small turtles hatch from eggs at the same time and, after staying in the nest for several hours, crawl out and rush to the sea. They never return to their nest again. Only the females, when they grow up, will return here to build their nest and lay eggs to continue their race.

How we first met a sea turtle

The first time we had a chance to see a big-headed sea turtle, when we went on a sea excursion to Gramvousa Fortress and Balos Lagoon. Then our ship just left the port of Kissamos and walked along the Korikos peninsula towards the island of Gramvousa, as we saw in the sea ... a head! Taking a closer look, we realized that this is a huge sea turtle swimming at a good speed towards the shore. Our ship was going quite fast, and the turtle also did not lag behind (only in the opposite direction from us), in general, while we took out and turned on the camera, the turtles and the trace caught a cold. But we remembered this incident and began to wonder where else in Crete you can find a large sea turtle.

Where can you see the Caretta Caretta turtle in Crete?

On the island of Crete, you can also see adult Caretta caretta turtles and their newborn cubs. These are the places:

1. IN reptile rescue center in Hersonissos.

This center is home to rescued reptiles and Marine life, which for some reason can no longer survive in natural environment. There we saw a loggerhead turtle named Stefania. She is almost completely blind, so she could not survive in the wild.

Turtle Stephanie

2. IN Cretan Aquarium in Gournes. More than 2,500 marine organisms are represented here, among which there are Caretta caretta turtles.

3. On sea excursions in the open sea near the island.
As mentioned above, we saw Caretta Caretta on the high seas during a sea excursion on Balos. And also, we saw a big sea turtle on sea excursions in Agios Nikolaos. In Agios Nikolaos there is such a half-ship-half-submarine, through the large windows of which you can see many underwater inhabitants Mirabello Bay, including the Loggerhead turtles.

4. Often sea turtles swim in ports major cities islands. They are periodically seen in the Old Port of Chania, and Rethymno, and in Agios Nikolaos. Moreover, loggerheads are such frequent visitors here that locals even give these turtles nicknames.

5. And, of course, in Crete you can also see very small cubs of big-headed turtles. From about mid-July to the end of October, very early at dawn, the babies crawl out of the nest and, quickly working with tiny flippers, move to the sea. Or, small turtles can be seen when volunteers from the Archelon sea turtle rescue organization dig up the nests of these reptiles. What is Archelon and why do volunteers dig up turtle nests? Not so long ago we learned about it.

What organization is Archelon?

Sea turtles have been endangered for many years. This is due to many factors: pollution environment, fishing nets, development of coastal zones with hotels and improvement of beaches. And since about 60% of the Caretta Caretta sea turtle nests are located in Greece, the Archelon Association is doing everything possible to save these reptiles, which are rapidly disappearing from our planet.

Archelon (ΑΡΧΕΛΩΝ) is the Greek Society for the Protection of Sea Turtles, which was established in 1983. The Society works in the main nesting areas of Caretta caretta turtles in Greece: the island of Crete, the Peloponnese peninsula and the island of Zakynthos. Volunteers from Archelon rescue sick and injured turtles and educate people about rare reptiles by conducting public nest excavations.

Why are Caretta Caretta turtle nests excavated?

First of all, when volunteers from Archelon spot a sea turtle laying on the beach, they set up a special sign at this place indicating that there is a nest here, and also record the date of laying.

Caretta caretta turtle nest

It is worth noting that the main reference point for newborn turtles in the dark is the moonlight reflected in the sea. But due to the fact that, as a rule, artificial lighting is installed on equipped beaches: lanterns, spotlights, light from restaurants and cafes, the turtles go astray and go in the opposite direction from the sea. This eventually leads to their death. Therefore, volunteers often install a small fence from masonry, so that when the turtles get out of the nest, they do not go astray, but go towards the sea.

Once, being in Crete in August, we accidentally found out that the Archelon Society will soon be excavating nests of sea turtles near the place where we rested. We decided to attend this event for two reasons:

It was interesting to see what a sea turtle's nest looks like.
I wanted to know why they dig up the nests of sea turtles?

So, we learned about the place where public excavations of the nest of the turtle Caretta caretta will be carried out in social network on the Archelon association page

A species of sea turtle is regularly observed: Caretta-Caretta (Caretta-Caretta), Caretta-Caretta turtles are on the list of endangered animals. The point is that they for a long time considered a delicacy not only in Far East, but also in some European countries(for example, France and Italy).
These marine reptiles have been living on Earth for 95 million years. Adult turtles reach a size of 115-150 cm, while their weight is about 70-90 kg.....
Caretta-Caretta lays eggs only once every two to three years. Turtles go out onto the sand and, using their hind legs, dig several holes, then, choosing, in their opinion, the most suitable one, they lay eggs there. One turtle can dig up to 80-100 holes, but it will lay all its eggs in only one of them. The process of laying eggs lasts for hours and experts say that the female turtle positive emotions at this moment does not experience at all.
This exhausting procedure for turtles lasts about 60 days (from May to July). And from July to September, small turtles begin to appear. They say that males are displayed at a temperature of 28.5 ° C, but for women's warmth more is required - 32 °C.
Cubs hatched on the appointed day,
moreover, they say, they still need to sit in the sand for 26 hours, which is probably why the supervisors feel the place of laying so carefully - the palm goes vertically into the sand in several places in turn.

If "something suspicious", they rake horizontally to the sides with their palms - in layers.

Probably, being afraid to injure the kids who have already decided to get out on their own :)

If they don’t find anything, they all bury it again, make appropriate notes in their notebook and put a wire frame over the masonry - until the next time.

Yes, so the kids get out of the hole and, guided by the moon, head to the sea, carried away by instinct. During the period when the little turtles hatch from eggs, it is forbidden to kindle a fire or light a light, because it can deceive the cubs and they will go astray. They should have time to get to the water before dawn and the heat came. Latecomers are destroyed by the hot rays of the sun or become food for birds. One of the most dangerous enemies on earth they have is a fox. Of course, even once at sea, the cubs cannot be considered completely safe. Not reaching a certain size, they serve as tasty food for fish.
Instinct again leads adults to the place where they were born. Having hatched in one place, they return there already in order to give life to a new generation.
In Turkey, there are 17 beaches where sea turtles lay their eggs, among them the most important are, for example, Iztuzu, Patara, the Gösu River Delta (Gösu), Belek - all of them have the status of protected areas.

I, in general, disagree about Belek, but it’s not for me to judge.
Well, we came here knowing that Caretta breeds here and that we need to run in the morning (we read w, but what about w!) To the beach and peer at the people walking by.

Oh. Only, having gone to the beach, well, we completely forgot about it - after all, the sea is the same! Half past six in the morning and very warm. And the sea is gentle and the air is warm and my temperature has been 38.2 since yesterday.

And then literally 25 meters from us - it is obvious. And we are in chest-deep water.
In general, they caught us by surprise, but we are for the cameras and run :)
And there already special uncles enter in a special notebook how many pieces from which number of the hole when they got out.

The people of various colors lined up in two lines and with very welcoming cries of the kids, of whom there were four, encourages.

Uncles shout at onlookers so that they don’t inadvertently interfere :) They drove me away when I was standing half a meter to the side of the highway - you never know, maybe the kid wants to turn?

In general, there were four supervisors. And figli? Responsible work!
One records does.

One - with an important plaque on his chest, like, the main one.

He makes all decisions about all the movements of the supervisors in the case of turtles.
One - raises and lowers, and, in case of need, takes away into the common pile the wire frames that are no longer needed, which are installed above the masonry, while the baby is still in the sand.

And he carries a bucket.
One - I don't know why, probably - for the company.
With a bucket is a separate issue: we watched four kids move towards the water. One of them was very weak. At all:(
It was put into this same bucket. Probably carried to the turtle cemetery :(

While the turtles are crawling towards the water (and it's funny, the closer they are to the water, the faster they run, even jump :) it seems that they feel it, even though they were born just a few minutes ago :)), the supervisors are busy with a very important thing: they carefully dig up the masonry - them former house, everyone checks if there is anything else left there, counts the peel, put it back and bury the masonry.

And they don’t go anywhere until the turtles swim away :)

And even if the turtle, which itself is still the size of 3/4 cigarette packs, rolls over, falling off a pebble on the beach, it does not need to be helped by a specially trained uncle helping her with some strange, but probably more in an efficient way: he doesn’t turn it over, he puts a finger on her hand, helping her to tighten her little snares and turn herself over :)