Last June, the technical staff of the Algeciras Marine Environment Management Center identified a loggerhead turtle nest on Nueva Andalucía beach, in Marbella. Sixty-nine eggs were identified and protected. After ensuring that all the eggs located were in perfect condition and that the nest was located in a safe place, the CEGMA, an organization dependent on the Junta de Andalucía and managed by the NGO Seashore Fauna, requested help from BIOPARC Fuengirola to participate in this identification and subsequent controlled incubation of new eggs from the nest.
Now 49 days later, in which the BIOPARC Fuengirola team has developed a strict protocol with which to guarantee the same levels of humidity, temperature and lighting as in their original nest, eight eggs have hatched.
Throughout this time, the Herpetology team has been in contact with CEGMA technicians to share data regarding the status of both incubations. “In our case, by having direct access to the eggs, we can see the real state of all of them. We provide this data so they can extrapolate it to the nest found on the beach. When we were already seeing veins or movements here, it should have been the same there,” explains Milagros Robledo, head of Herpetology.
The incubation process at the conservation center took place between two different incubators, which the technicians maintained at a temperature of 30,5 and 29,5 degrees Celsius. “Of the nine eggs, eight have finally hatched successfully. One of them did not calcify and during incubation we observed how it was possible that it was infertile.”
With this controlled incubation, the park helps guarantee the viability of the greatest number of eggs possible.
The decision to transfer nine eggs to controlled incubation is not a coincidence. With this action, a representation of the clutch that continues successfully is ensured, in the event of a storm, flooding of the nest or predation or looting of eggs. A common action protocol that is implemented with all turtle nests identified on the coasts of Spain.
During this month and a half, the Herpetology team has monitored the status of the eggs daily, controlling the previously mentioned levels at all times. For their part, CEGMA technicians have monitored the state of temperature and humidity of the nest located on the Marbella beach, through several data loggers with which they have collected this information without having to open the nest and interrupt the incubation.
In the case of the pups born at BIOPARC Fuengirola, they will spend a quarantine period of about forty-eight hours before being transferred to the CEGMA in Algeciras, along with the pups born on the beach. Although in a natural environment, upon birth they would walk directly towards the sea, the small size of these sea turtles makes them easy prey for fish or seagulls. A year must pass until they are released into the sea, at which time their size will guarantee their survival in the great and long journey that awaits them through the sea.
Future equipment with satellite markers once released into the sea
When the time comes for release into the sea, some of the turtles belonging to this clutch will be equipped with satellite markers with which to track their journeys in the natural environment. In the case of those incubated at BIOPARC Fuengirola, five of the eight will be equipped with this device. "This monitoring would provide us with valuable information about the development of these individuals once they have passed the first year of life and if there is any change in the dispersal and survival patterns in those that have been artificially incubated compared to those that have been born naturally." on the beach,” explains Rosa Martínez, veterinarian at BIOPARC Fuengirola.
The controlled incubation of nine eggs from this nest becomes the second time that the Malaga conservation center collaborates with CEGMA. It already did so in 2020 with the incubation of some of the eggs from a loggerhead turtle nest located on the beaches of Fuengirola. A year later he participated in the release of a group of baby loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta), on the Boliches and Cabo Pino beaches, among which were some equipped with the previously mentioned satellite markers, knowing to this day the areas visited after their liberation.
