Rare Leatherback Turtles Return To Thailand Beaches For 1st Time In 20 Years During Lockdown

Millions of people across the globe are sitting at home due to the lockdown and, while this might be of inconvenience to us humans, the same can’t be said for wildlife. In fact, the lockdown is proving to be beneficial for nature and animals.

This time, rare species of sea turtles were spotted on empty, deserted beaches of Thailand.

That’s right. A large number of rare leatherback sea turtles were spotted on empty Thailand beaches amid the lockdown. Incredible!

And guess what, for the first time, in the last two decades (20 years), it was the largest number of nests.

In an interview with Reuters, Kongkiat Kittiwatanawong, the Director of the Phuket Marine Biological Center said:

The 11 turtle nests authorities have found since last November were the highest number in 20 years. This is a very good sign for us because many areas for spawning have been destroyed by humans.

He also added that, no such nests were found in the past five years.

sea.mashable.com

For the uninitiated, leatherbacks are the world’s largest sea turtles and they are considered endangered in Thailand.

They are also listed as one of the vulnerable species across the world by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

www.indiatoday.in

Apparently, one turtle nest contains around 60-120 eggs which take around 60 days to hatch.

They prefer laying their eggs in dark and quiet places or in areas that are not open to public because humans tend to dig and steal their eggs so, you can imagine how rarely they are spotted.

www.chiangraitimes.com

This is great news and the internet agrees too.

What a lovely sight to witness. It’s beautiful to see nature and wildlife thriving while humans are isolating.