Costa Rican Sea Turtles

The leatherback sea turtle population in the Pacific, once the species' stronghold, has decreased by over 90% since 1980. Help scientists investigate this decline and find ways to save this and other sea turtle species.

Costa Rica’s Guanacaste Province is home to four of the seven species of sea turtles currently existing. Las Baulas National Marine Park and Playa Cabuyal are critical nesting grounds for endangered leatherback, green, and olive ridley sea turtles. The waters along North Pacific Guanacaste Province are critical foraging habitats for the juveniles of these species, along with the critically endangered hawksbill turtle. Together, this makes Guanacaste important for the multiple life stages of these turtles and especially important for their survival. 

In the beginning, on the sandy shorelines, the mama turtles haul themselves out of the ocean, dig holes with their rear flippers, and lay clutches of soft-shelled eggs. After a few months, fragile hatchlings will emerge and make their way to the ocean.

The world is a dangerous place for these tiny turtles and their parents. They’re threatened by climate change, boat traffic, fishing gear, coastal development, nest predation, and humans hunting them for their meat and eggs. To truly understand why these ancient species have declined so rapidly and what we can do to stop this decline, researchers need to know everything about them: their behavior, physiology, genetics, population biology, and migration patterns. Subsequently, it is essential to determine whether the current conservation and management efforts are working and how climate change impacts these populations.

To build this knowledge base, you’ll walk the beach at night when turtles are active, getting up close to these massive animals to identify individuals and take measurements that help determine how they have changed since they were last seen. In addition, you may help collect skin samples for genetic analysis or attach transmitters that will track their local and long-distance movements. You’ll also help relocate eggs to a hatchery from nests in dangerous spots, like where waves might wash them away. The researchers on this expedition have studied sea turtles for over three decades, and you'll help them expand the longest-running database on Pacific marine turtles. This work is critical: with sea turtle populations declining at an alarming rate, each turtle is precious.