Turtle Rescue Video Update: 28 Jan 2021
[Our internet access has been very limited since we've minimized expenses, so here are our updates from the past few months]
Video Update: 28 Jan 2021
Enjoy this timelapse of almost 2 hours in our nursery of rescued baby turtles at the Tapiche Jungle Reserve in the northern Amazon of Peru. We've released some of the earliest rescues, but there are still 3000 turtle hatchlings growing and thriving in the nursery, the majority of them being Yellow-Spotted River Turtles (Podocnemis unifilis). You can observe them swimming around, basking in the sun and feeding on water lettuce.
We built the turtle nursery to best simulate the natural environment of the turtles while also providing them with a secure space to grow and thrive. It is closed up with wooden planks on all sides and covered with a metal net to keep out potential natural predators. The metal net provides a secure protection from above while not reducing the incoming sunlight in the nursery.
You can see the turtles coming out of the water to climb on the wooden planks to expose their bodies to the sun. Turtles are cold-blooded (ectothermic), meaning their body temperature is not regulated by internal processes, but they rely on their surroundings to warm up their body temperature. They need several hours of sun exposure a day, which is why they come up to the floating wood and the dry areas of the nursery.
Shortly before this timelapse was made, we put around 12kg of fresh water lettuce in the nursery and you can see the turtles feeding on it. The water in the nursery does not have any current, meaning the water lettuce is pushed around only by the strength of the young turtles feeding on it.
When the turtles sense anything approaching the nursery, they quickly jump back into the safety of being under water. Even after several weeks of living in the nursery, they always keep very alert to any potential threat and do not get used to humans or animals coming near the nursery. You can see this in the moment when all the turtles suddenly disappear under the water (around 1:03) and the floating woods remain empty for a few minutes (in real time).
Natural predators that might try to attack the turtle nursery include mouse opossums, snakes and several species of birds including the Yellow-headed Caracara (Milvago chimqchima) and the Rufescent Tiger-Heron (Tigrisoma lineatum). For several years, one Rufescent Tiger-Heron has constructed her nest in the area of the lodge during the flood season. Last year, we saw her unsuccesfully trying to attack the turtle hatchery.
We hope this video provides a little insight into the everyday life of the rescued turtle hatchlings in the nursery at the Tapiche Jungle Reserve: feeding on water lettuce, swimming and sun basking in their safe and protected environment make up most of the day of these jungle babies.
You can still support all the jungle babies of the Tapiche Jungle Reserve via our GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/472e0a00
To rewatch the video at any time and also find more videos about the Tapiche Jungle Reserve, please visit our Youtube channel: