Monthly

Achievement Report
Jalova Wildlife Conservation Expedition
April 2014
The turtle story so far
Summary
In partnership with the Costa Rican Ministry of Environment (MINAE) and the Sea Turtle
Conservancy (STC) Global Vision International (GVI) is helping to conserve the marine turtles and
jaguar population that Tortuguero National Park (TNP) aggregates during sea turtle nesting season.
Staff and volunteers participate in Night Patrols and Nest Checks and keep a record of dead turtles in
the study area.
Report
GVI conducts studies on marine turtle that nest and are predated by jaguars in the southern end of
TNP. The marine turtle studies are split over nightly patrols and daily nest checks in 3.5 miles of
beach starting at Jalova river mouth, the southernmost point of TNP. Jaguar predation on marine
turtles is monitored weekly for 14.5 miles of TNP beach.
TNP hosts the biggest nesting colony of green sea turtles on the western hemisphere (June
October) and it composes, together with other Caribbean beaches, a very important nesting site for
leatherback turtles (March June). Occasionally hawksbills and loggerhead turtles are also
encountered laying eggs on this beach.
As the name suggests, Night Patrols are conducted at night from 9pm to 2am. The objectives of the
Night Patrols are to collect data on sea turtles coming ashore to lay eggs. As part of STC's protocol,
turtles are tagged for individual identification and biometric data such as carapace length is
recorded. For the first period of 2014 leatherback season (26 March to 4 May) GVI Jalova has worked
with 19 leatherbacks and 7 greens, 58% more leatherbacks than the same period of 2013.
Following a Night Patrol, if the team has successfully encountered a nesting turtle and marked the
egg chamber, the nest check patrol will determine the current condition of the nest. This
information is gathered every day to assist in understanding nest survival rates and hatching success
of nests marked along the season. The Jalova team has marked and monitored 12 leatherback nests
and 2 green nests from 26 March to 4 May 2014 while in 2013, during the same period, GVI had
marked and monitored 8 leatherback nests and 3 green nests.
Figure 1 Volunteers checking a nest triangulation after they have marked the nest the night
before
Figure 2 Nest excavation to rate hatchling success
Figure 3 Leatherback hatchling

If all that wasn't enough, jaguar predation on marine turtles is also monitored. Camera traps are
positioned at recently killed turtles. The footage and the photos on the camera traps are invaluable
as it shows jaguars eating and dragging the turtle. It is possible for the team to identify jaguars
individually by the pattern of the rosettes (black spots)and this helps to understand the ecology and
spatial distribution of this endangered species in TNP. During the first period of leatherback season
two killed leatherbacks, nine greens and one hawksbill have been worked by the jaguar team and
volunteers.
This year already 30 volunteers of GVI Jalova have been involved with night patrols, nest checks and
jaguar studies being conducted in the south of TNP. We are looking forward to welcoming and
training more volunteers for lots more surveys over the coming months.
Renato Bruno, Turtle Project Leader
Sharon Barton, Staff Intern