Sea Turtles

Thirty years ago I had just arrived in Barra del Colorado, Costa Rica to begin my new life. Back then and even today the...

The findings suggest a "developmental difference between the eggs of arribada and non-arribada nesting females." 

PLAYA OSTIONAL, Guanacaste – For tourists, the beaches of Costa Rica are known as a prime location for rest and relaxation, but they’re the exact opposite for Hellen Lobo, a conservation biologist. For Lobo, the volcanic sand beaches of Ostional National Wildlife Reserve are a place where she works long hours researching, recording and writing.

After a large mob of tourists made headlines worldwide for interfering with nesting sea turtles in Costa Rica earlier this month, thousands of olive ridleys have returned to Ostional beach this week. Unlike the last time, when mobs of tourists prevented the turtles from laying their eggs, the beach was mostly clear of visitors.

National Police on patrol with volunteers discovered a green sea turtle tied and on its back on the Caribbean beach of Moín Monday evening. Authorities...

PLAYA OSTIONAL, Guanacaste – Gallo pinto, casados, and corn tamales are some of the most common dishes served in Costa Rica. But there’s another food in which many Ticos also indulge: sea turtle eggs.

The alleged poachers were seen throwing sea turtles overboard as authorities closed in on their two boats south of Tortuguero National Park.

PLAYA OSTIONAL, Guanacaste – Sea foam laps the shore as the sun rises over the ocean. It’s 5 a.m. on a calm, beautiful morning, but the residents of Ostional aren’t out to enjoy a leisurely walk on the beach – they’re hard at work.

The turtles, which weighed between 120 and 150 kilograms, were sent to the Jaguar Rescue Center in Puerto Viejo for care, where two others have since been taken for care. Police have rescued at least seven of the ancient reptiles so far this year from poachers who capture them for their meat as they come ashore to lay their eggs.

A gang of more than 10 poachers carrying sticks, machetes and guns allegedly attacked the international volunteers on Pacuare beach, Sea Shepard Central America spokesman Jorge Serendero told The Tico Times on Friday.

MIAMI – Tens of thousands of endangered sea turtles die every year in the United States when they are inadvertently snared in shrimp nets, an environmental group alleged in a lawsuit filed Wednesday against the government.

PLAYA OSTIONAL, Guanacaste – By 7 p.m., it is already impossibly dark to read the signs on buildings. Every 100 meters or so, a singular yellow street lamp illuminates a small, dim area of the dirt road. The road is bumpy and it is dangerously difficult to see the dips and holes from dried tire marks in the mud.

PLAYA OSTIONAL, Guanacaste – Annual rainfall has decreased by 52 percent this year in the Guanacaste region, according to the National Meteorological Institute, affecting the hatching rates of turtles in Ostional, a mass nesting site on Costa Rica's Pacific coast for the olive ridley species.

Police arrested two men suspected of killing an endangered green sea turtle in Parismina, a fishing village on the northern Caribbean coast, on Tuesday. Law enforcement officials found the two men in a boat with a gutted mother turtle who appears to have been in the process of laying her eggs.