Relocating marine turtle eggs in Kenya 🐢

It's World Sea Turtle Day | View online

ADOPT DONATE JOIN SHOP Jon, did you know that marine turtles lay their eggs on land? They don’t lay them underwater as the embryos breathe through a membrane and would drown. When laying their eggs, marine turtles can sometimes choose risky spots for their nests - where the eggs could be preyed on by wildlife, taken by poachers or flooded by high tides. To help combat this in Kenya, as part of our marine turtle monitoring programme, we sometimes carefully relocate turtle nests to make sure the eggs are safe.

EASY DOES IT Relocating a nest takes skill and patience and we have protocols we follow to minimise the risk. One egg is moved at a time and all eggs are arranged in the same pattern as they were laid. Then the eggs are surrounded by sand from the original nest. Nesting females secrete a special fluid, which stops bacteria from infecting the eggs, so using the same sand is really important. Marine turtles don’t check on the eggs once they’ve been laid so moving the nest doesn’t create a problem.

YOU CAN HELP Turtles are killed for their shells, meat and body parts. And with only around one in every 1,000 marine turtles making it to adulthood, every turtle counts! You can adopt a marine turtle today to help fund projects like this. ADOPT A TURTLE Want to find out more about turtles? We'll tell you everything you need to know! WATCH THE TURTLE VIDEO FACTS ABOUT TURTLES

FOR YOUR WORLD WWF-UK is a registered charity in England and Wales 1081247 and in Scotland SC039593 and a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales 4016725. Address: The Living Planet Centre, Rufford House, Brewery Road, Woking, Surrey GU21 4LL. Tel: 01483 426333. For full details on how we collect, use and store your personal information see our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe Mailing Code: GLN017003 Supporter Number: 519005869 Photos and graphics © used with permission. Sea turtle, video © Shutterstock | Egg relocation, image © Jonathan Caramanus, Green Renaissance, WWF-UK | Turtle, image © Antonio Busiello, WWF-US