If there’s one winner from the whole coronavirus pandemic, it might have to be the turtles.
Earlier this month, we published a story where endangered hawksbill sea turtles hatched undisturbed on empty Brazilian beaches. Then, just days ago, we reported on leatherback turtles in Florida, which are enjoying a good start to the hatching season without human disturbances causing problems for nests.
Today we bring you a similar story from across the world. In Thailand, environmentalists are reporting the largest number of nests of rare leatherback sea turtles in two decades on beaches bereft of tourists. Leatherbacks are the world’s largest sea turtles. They are considered endangered in Thailand, and listed as a vulnerable species globally by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The 11 turtle nests authorities have found since last November were the highest number in 20 years, said Kongkiat Kittiwatanawong, the director of the Phuket Marine Biological Centre.
As beautiful as it is to witness turtles hatch and crawl to the sea, the fact that turtles are thriving without people around tells us that perhaps we should consider vacating beaches that are known to host turtle nests during the hatching season.
