These tiny sea turtles have just been born in an incubator of a Spanish foundation becoming the first ones of the season in the aquarium.
The little turtles started to be born in the incubators of the facilities of the Oceanografic Valencia foundation, located in the city of Valencia, in the eastern Spanish region of the same name, on Saturday 5th August.
They were from the first nest registered this season on the beach of Marineta Cassiana, in Denia, in Valencia region, whose mum spawned on 18th June.
A total of ten eggs from 14 transferred from the beach to the facilities of the Oceanografic foundation have been born by now, and the other four were not as it turned out not viable.
After hatching, vets of the foundation checked and measured the newborns, which were an average of 3,9 metres long (12.7 feet) and 13 grammes (0.4 oz) in weight.
The animals were later put in a box with beach sand and kept in a climatized incubator in a dark place, simulating the conditions of the nest in a natural habitat.
They will be transferred to a water tank in the Recovery and Preservation of Animals area which is adapted so that they can have the first food and can make exercises to be able to swim and dive.
This is the first birth in the Valencia aquarium and it is happening shortly after the discovery of another nest in the protected beach of El Saler, whose nest was guarded by volunteers of the NGO Xaloc.
On that occasion, 62 turtles were born on that beach on Monday 7th August, but only 55 went to the sea and seven of them were carried to the facilities of the foundation to be part of a project along with the ten that has just been born.
So far this season, a total of eight nests have been registered on the coast of Valencia and 600 eggs have been counted.
It is expected that more eggs will break soon, not only at the beach but also in incubators, coming from the nests located in Gandia, Elche, Valencia Santa Pola and another three in Denia.
The foundation has set up a camera to monitor the nests in real-time and it can be used by vets and also citizens: https://www.twitch.tv/oceanografic_vlc
To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below.
Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency: Newsflash
The Ananova page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
