| Las Baulas Conservation Project - Scientific Activities – Primary |  |
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| Nightly beach census work is the major part of the conservation project. Scientists and volunteers 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. |
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| ©2009
The Leatherback Trust Please note that presentation of data here does not constitute publication and that we retain all intellectual property rights |
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