The rarest and most endangered sea turtle in the world was discovered nesting on the beaches of CCAFS for the first time recorded May 14, 2015, and then again May 28, 2015. Following an incubation period of approximately two months, both nests hatched, were excavated, or carefully uncovered, after a period of three days and the results were recorded.
The Kemp’s ridley is one of the smallest sea turtles, with adults growing to about two feet in length and weighing up to about 100 pounds, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Its numbers have been declining since 1947, when there was an estimated 40,000 nesting females in a single arribada–a mass nesting of turtles occurring at one time–and only 20,507 total nests, a single female typically lays more than one nest, in 2011.
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