Sattahip - Giant turtle lays more than 100 eggs on Navy beach
Giant turtle lays more than 100 eggs on Navy beach
Patcharapol Panrak
A giant Chelonia Mydas turtle has laid more than 100 eggs on the beach behind the residence of the commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Navy, at Sattahip.
The female, thought to be 15 years old and weighing about 150 kg, crawled up the beach near to where the Sea Turtle Conservation Center at Air and Coastal Defense Command is located. No microchip was found on the turtle, which means she is unknown to researchers.
Rear Admiral Chaiwat Sriakkharin, commander of Air and Coastal defense, received a report on March 9 from Captain Kosit Jiamsupakit saying that the coastguard had reported that a giant female Chelonia Mydas turtle had come to lay her eggs under a sea bodhi tree.
This is the same location in which other Chelonia Mydas turtles have recently laid eggs, starting in June 2004. Turtles had not used this part of the beach before, and the Navy had arranged a guard on the beach to prevent the eggs being stolen, or eaten by animals. However, no other eggs had been laid here since 2004.
Captain Kosit, who is director of Air and Coastal Defense Command, went with his deputy Captain Tinakorn Kanchanataemee, and with Lt Com Khachornyot Punsiri, an officer at the Sea Turtle Conservation Center, to verify the sighting. They found the turtle digging a hole in the sand, and watched as she finished laying and then covered the eggs before crawling back into the sea.
Pattaya Mail
Sattahip 95 baby turtles hatch out and head for the ocean
95 baby turtles hatch out and head for the ocean</I>
Patcharapol Panrak
The Sea Turtle Conservation Center at the Royal Thai Navy Base in Sattahip has announced that 95 baby turtles hatched out over the Thai New Year period.
Captain Kosit Jiamsupakit, director of Air and Coastal Defense Command and his deputy, Captain Tinakorn Kanchanataemee, along with officers from the Sea Turtle Conservation Center had gathered early in the morning of April 14 to watch the eggs hatch on the beach in front of the center. They were delighted when the baby turtles dug themselves out of the sand hole, and counted 95 of them crawling into the sea.
Captain Tinakorn said that on February 26 a large female Chelonia Mydas turtle came to lay 119 eggs on the beach, behind the residence of Admiral Sathiraphan Kaeyanon, commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Navy. Rear Admiral Chaiwat Sriakkharin, commander of Air and Coastal Defense Command had ordered the eggs moved to a safer place on the beach, as the area in which they had been laid is a depression and floods during rain. It was feared the eggs would decompose.
Observation over the course of the following weeks allowed predictions for the hatching dates to be made, and on April 13, Thai New Year, the entrance to the sand hole began to open as the eggs shifted from the activity inside them. The baby turtles, which are fully developed, emerged from their egg shells early next morning and enjoyed their first meal of egg white before heading for the water.
More eggs are on the beach, with two hatching dates expected soon. Meanwhile, there was a rush on lottery tickets containing the figure of 95 and also 719, the eggs having hatched at 7:19 a.m.
Pattaya Mail
