Mediterranean beach welcomed record number of baby loggerheads

FOR MANY years, volunteers are working day and night to save the loggerhead sea turtle, which is commonly known as caretta carettas, as the species is under threat of extinction. Thanks to the dedication of nature lovers, every year more loggerheads come to Turkish shores to lay their eggs and baby loggerheads find their way to the sea.

Antalya’s Çıralı Beach is one of the breeding spots of the loggerhead and this year, the beach broke the 22-year-old record of leading the most baby loggerheads to the sea. This year, mama loggerheads laid 13,729 eggs in 151 different nests and 7,612 babies found their way to the Mediterranean.

In 1996, a total of 37 loggerhead nests were detected on the Çıralı Beach and starting from that year, loggerhead nests and eggs began to be protected by nature lovers as well as the cooperative they founded.

The dedicated and self-sacrificing work by the Ulupınar Nature Protection, Development and Managing Cooperative, the Çıralı Shore Protection Coordination Commission, Antalya Governorate, Kemer Municipality and the help of local people contributed to increase the number of loggerheads coming to the Çıralı Beach. To protect the future of the huge turtles, local residents and the local government said they will continue to serve as the “Saviors of the Loggerheads” in the years to come.