Watch sea turtles by satellite

Conservation International - Conservation International has launched a satellite turtle monitoring program. Environmentalists will oversee the migration of 11 leather turtles all the way up to 2,000 km long . Scientists have activated satellites to track the direction of 11 sea turtles on April 16 .

Funded by environmental groups from the US, Costa Rica and businesses, scientists will follow the trail of sea turtles on the annual migration path with a distance of about 1,931km, from the sea. The Pacific Ocean is in Costa Rica to the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador, a country in South America.

They called the study ' The Turtle Race' (Great Turtle Race) to raise people's awareness of this endangered animal.

The organizer of this event is the Conservation International, Conservation International, a nonprofit environmental protection organization, headquartered in the US capital, Washington.

The organization said that within the next two weeks, when the turtle completed its migration to the offshore islands of Ecuador, people could visit the website http://www.greatturtlerace.com to visit. update the information about them as well as the long way they went through.

Sea turtles prepare to go to sea (Photo: LiveScience)

Scientists hope that most of these turtles will sail on April 16, 2007, after laying eggs on the coast of Playa Grande in Costa Rica (a country in Central America).

Environmentalists said that about 90% of this species of leather turtles (scientific name Dermochelys coriacea) has disappeared, and perhaps within 10 years this species will be extinct due to their frequent eggs humans seek to steal, then pollute the marine environment and more and more human works grow in the area of ​​turtles to lay eggs.

This adult turtle can reach a length of 1.8m and weigh about 907kg. This is the world's largest turtle, and is often found in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Ocean coasts, stretching from Alaska in the south to the Cape of Good Hope in Africa.

Scientists have estimated that the number of female sea turtles worldwide has been severely reduced. From 115 thousand children in 1980 to less than 43 thousand children this year. In addition to the above threats to the residence, the number of sea turtles is also severely affected because they often eat plastic bags or plastic bags floating on the sea because it is mistaken for jellyfish - favorite food. of them.

This study has 10 sponsors. Each of these sponsors has donated $ 25,000 for the purchase of equipment to monitor and protect the turtle area as a nest, to help restore the number of these turtles.

Manh Duc