Scientific Activities

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	Playa Grande Nesting Site

Nightly beach census work is the major part of our conservation project. We patrol the beach looking for leatherback turtles in order to protect, identify and count them. The individual turtles who come onto the beach to nest are identified with small electronic PIT (Passive Integrated Transponder) tags which are injected into the muscle of the shoulder. Each turtle receives one of these the first time she nests and it identifies her with a unique number. The PIT tag remains in place for the lifetime of the turtle and is easily detected with a small handheld scanner. In this way we can identify the turtles who nest each night, find out how many times each turtle nests during the season and how many days apart each nesting event is.

Data Collection
The data we collect permits us to make calculations on the population size in areas where the turtles are not observed but the nests can be seen. While we are on the beach we protect nests from poachers and predators to maximize the number of hatchlings produced. We also measure some turtles, count eggs, measure the temperature of nests to determine hatchling sex, and record the level of human activity on the beach. To see the day-by-day record of turtles counted on the beach at Play Grande, go to FIELD REPORT
Measuring the turtle's shell length
Measuring nest temperature information using a thermal probe placed into the nest when the turtles lays the eggs
Data sheet with the information we collect on each turtle coming onto the beach