Hatchling

As measures are being taken for the new nesting season on the southern province of Antalya's Çıralı coast, one of the protected areas where sea turtles come and nest every year, more than 5,300 hatchlings are expected to reach the sea this year.

Motherhood takes many shapes. Most vertebrates, including birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish, reproduce by laying eggs filled with nourishing yolk that their offspring use as an initial source of nutrition before hatching. Mammals change the game by giving birth to live young and feeding them fatty, sugary milk as they get on their feet.

With Manavgat in the southern province of Antalya recently witnessing an influx of seabirds as the summer tourism season ends, an expert has called for an official protection declaration for the region, where an abundance of endemic flora and fauna thrive.

With scores of tourists hitting the beaches in the tourism hotspot of Antalya to cool off the summer heat, many locals and authorities have raised concerns over people hanging their belongings on wooden fences raised to protect Caretta caretta eggs in the Konyaaltı district.

On a beach in northeastern Qatar, six-year-old Lolwa waves goodbye to two baby hawksbill turtles, a species that has a one in a thousand chance of surviving to adulthood.

Predators, climate change, fishing nets and marine pollution all contributed to the classification of these narrow-beaked creatures as "critically endangered" in 1996.

Hundreds of critically endangered baby giant turtles were released into Cambodia's Mekong River to mark World Turtle Day on May 23.

Cantor's giant softshell turtles have all but vanished across their former territory in Vietnam and Thailand thanks to poaching and illegal trade, and were only rediscovered in the Southeast Asian country in 2007.

Baby turtles in the world-famous İztuzu beach have begun hatching in the Aegean province of Muğla.

The Caretta caretta loggerhead turtle hatchlings crawled into the sea from the İztuzu beach, which is an important nesting area for this endangered species.

The world-famous beaches of Antalya, the home of endangered caretta carettas, fell silent this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. As the weather gets warmer, the sea turtles are expected to go to the beach to lay eggs in adult nesting areas later this month.

About 70,000 endangered sea turtle hatchlings are expected to crawl into the sea from Turkey's southern coast this summer. 

The Archelon society for the protection of the engendered loggerhead turtle said Wednesday that the hatching season has started and advised beachgoers to exercise caution when visiting nesting sites.