Cahuita, Costa Rica. Photo source: ©© Armando Maynez
Excerpts;
The critically endangered hawksbill sea turtle has few sanctuaries left in the world, and this is one of them. But in 2012 only 53 nests were counted on the beaches of this national park in Costa Rica. And there is an enemy that conservation efforts can’t fight: the beaches themselves are shrinking.
For centuries, the over eight km of beaches in Cahuita have provided a nesting ground for four species of sea turtle: the leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), the loggerhead (Caretta caretta), and the hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata).
But the erosion of the sand and the rising sea level have reduced the size of their breeding grounds…
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Leather back hatchlings. Photo source: ©© Jeroen Looyé