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Akumal Sea Ranch

Akumal is Mayan for "The Place of the Turtle"

The 2008 sea turtle nesting season has begun in Akumal. We hope this will be a very successful nesting year. Everyone is invited to join us in managing the beaches so each turtle mother can come ashore, find a great place to dig a hole, leave her eggs, and then safely make it back to sea. Stay posted throughout the season to see updated numbers on nests and hatchlings in Akumal.

Nests – 28 June 2008:
Loggerhead (Caretta caretta) 72
Green (Chelonia mydas) 14

Click here for more details on our Turtle Report.

Facts About Sea Turtles
Sea turtles are cold blooded reptiles that lay eggs and use lungs to breathe air. The first turtles appeared 245 million years ago. The seven species found today became distinct from all other turtles at least 110 million years ago. The sea turtle’s shell, or “carapace”, is streamlined for swimming through the water. Unlike other turtles, sea turtles cannot retract their legs or head into their shells. Sea turtles are found in warm and temperate waters throughout the world and migrate hundreds of miles between nesting and feeding grounds. Their color varies between yellow, greenish and black depending on the species. Four of the species known to man nest in the state of Quintana Roo. The principal predators of sea turtles are seabirds, crabs, raccoons and human beings. They are protected under National and International law.

Kemp's ridley sea turtles hatchlings ~ photograph by Bill Curtsinger

Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle Facts
Type: Reptile
Diet: Omnivore
Average lifespan in the wild: About 50 years
Size: 2 ft (65 cm)
Weight: 100 lbs (45 kg)

Did you know? A 1947 amateur film showed some 40,000 female Kemp's Ridley turtles nesting in Mexico in a single day. Today, it is estimated that only about 1,000 breeding females exist worldwide.

The Kemp’s Ridley turtle is the world’s most endangered sea turtle, and with a worldwide female nesting population roughly estimated at just 1,000 individuals, its survival truly hangs in the balance. Their perilous situation is attributed primarily to the over-harvesting of their eggs during the last century. And though their nesting grounds are protected and many commercial fishing fleets now use turtle excluder devices in their nets, these turtles have not been able to rebound.

For this reason, their nesting processions, called arribadas, make for especially high drama. During an arribada, females take over entire portions of beaches, lugging their big bodies through the sand with their flippers until they find a satisfying spot to lay their eggs. Even more riveting is the later struggle to the ocean of each tiny, vulnerable hatchling. Beset by predators, hatchlings make this journey at night, breaking out of their shells using their caruncle, a single temporary tooth grown just for this purpose.

Found primarily in the Gulf of Mexico, but also as far north as Nova Scotia, Kemp’s Ridleys are among the smallest sea turtles, reaching only about 2 feet (65 centimeters) in shell length and weighing up to 100 pounds (45 kilograms). Their upper shell, or carapace, is a greenish-gray color, and their bellies are off-white to yellowish.

They prefer shallow waters, where they dive to the bottom to feed on crabs - their favorite food - and other shellfish. They also eat jellyfish and occasionally munch on seaweed and sargassum. They may live to be 50 years old.

Females aren’t sexually mature until about ten to twelve years of age. They nest every one to three years and may lay several clutches of eggs each season. Highly migratory animals, they often travel hundreds of miles to reach their nesting beach, usually the same beach they hatched from.

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