Spotlight: Jairo Mora Sandoval, Costa Rican Turtle Protector

"It was his passion, he believed in saving the turtles. He could walk 20 miles along the beach watching and marking turtle nests," said Didier Chacon, Widecast project coordinator for Latin America. Jairo Mora Sandoval, a 26-year-old conservationist, spent much of his time working for the conservation of Costa Rica's leatherback turtle nesting areas. He was, …

Hollywood (Fla) to dim lights for turtles

It's taken time, many battles, and the city's need for permits, but the city of Hollywood, Florida has agreed to dim the lights along its beaches during turtle nesting season. As scientists have told us for years, and as volunteers with STOP have shown us in this vivid video, sea turtle hatchlings are attracted by …

Sea turtle hatchlings LOVE beach resort lights

There's bound to be messiness when creatures who've roamed the seas and beaches for millions of years face the relatively newfangled phenomenon of artifical light. Scientists believe that sea turtle hatchlings, when they emerge from their shells on beaches around the world, institnctually move in the direction where the sky is brightest. On a beach …

Today’s Gulf sea turtle – Loggerhead

As The Baltimore Sun’s Candus Thomson notes, all five species of sea turtles found in the Gulf are listed under the Endangered Species Act (this was true even before the BP oil disaster). We’re looking at fast facts about these species – this week, it’s the Loggerhead: Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta) named for their large heads …

Pic o’ the Week: Sea Turtle Hatchlings

Photo by Scott R. Benson, NOAA Fisheries "The ancient mariner who has seen both the fall of dinosaurs andthe dawn of humankind, this master navigator now,ironically, needs us ... to chart a path to its future." -Carl Safina   These Leatherback turtle hatchlings are heading into the sea for the first time. Only a few of …