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Sea turtles are amazing animals. The females start their nesting season with ALL their eggs but they know that it is prudent to lay multiple nests for the health of the species. She knows there are predators (like coyotes and raccoons) that can destroy a nest. She understands that on these warm, sandy beaches, there may be hurricanes, which may decimate the dunes…
Maybe the sea turtle mommas came up with the “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” proverb.
So with that, our beaches got a little knocked around last night and we lost many nests and several that had already hatched, emerged and had been inventoried. A few were even “exposed”.
But! On a positive note, the majority of our nests had already been inventoried, so we were spared devastation.
Zone 7 even had a few inventories, on nests that were spared!, which resulted in a few stragglers.
We’ll update y’all when we get through surveying the beach.
Thanks to Cassie M., Libby M., Janet L., and Kiawah Island Turtle Patrol Zone 7 for the photos.
All work is done under SCDNR Permit # MTP521