I did not mention about the release of terrapin hatchlings that will be held this June 13th, did I?!

Anyway, the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (a.k.a. PERHILITAN) of Terengganu is organizing a release ceremony at Pasir Kumpal, the in-situ terrapin research and conservation project site. The hatchlings that will be released next week were hatched from the eggs that were deposited between February and April this year.

The ceremony, which will be officiated by the Mentri Besar of Terengganu, Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh, will be held as follows:

Date: 13th June 2006 (Tuesday)
Time: 9 am – 5 pm
Venue: Pasir Pulau and Pasir Kumpal, Dungun, Terengganu

The district of Dungun is located about 60 km south of Kuala Terengganu. It is about an hours’ drive from Kuala Terengganu (from the north) as well as from Kemaman (from the south).

Anyway, if you are interested and would like to attend the ceremony, leave me a note in the comment box and I will give you a more detailed explaination on how to get to the site.

See you there!

I read with disgust this little news article in New Straits Times Online. For those of you who are too lazy busy to click the link, I am re-producing it here:

KUALA LUMPUR: The numbers are horrifying. Since the 1960s the number of leatherback turtle nesting sites in Terengganu has plunged from 10,000 to only one last year. As recently as 1984, there were 800 nesting sites.

This cloud does have a faint silver lining though. According to the director of the Turtle Marine Ecosystem Centre (Tumec) in Rantau Abang, Kamaruddin Ibrahim, about half-a-million hatchlings were released into the ocean between 1961 and 2001.

He said that although these turtles had never been tracked from infancy to adulthood, experts place the odds of female adults returning to lay eggs at between one in 1,000 and one in 10,000.

“It is only a matter of time before the mature females return,” he said, adding that turtles return to their birthplace every three to five years to lay their eggs. So we can expect more landings in the coming years, during the May to September nesting season.”

Leatherback turtles are listed as “critically endangered” by the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

Aside from natural predation, threats to the leatherback include over-fishing for their meat and shell, the poaching of their eggs, which are considered a delicacy; and the destruction of habitat.

Although it is illegal in Terengganu, turtle eggs are openly sold in some markets.

WWF-Malaysia programme officer Rahayu Zulkifli said that eggs are being sold at Pasar Payang and at the night market at Kemasek for RM1.60 to RM2.50.

She said they are a status symbol, like shark�s fin, and some consider them an aphrodisiac.

Kamaruddin said that controlling the mortality rate of leatherbacks cannot be done locally.

Adult leatherbacks tagged in Malaysia have been found dead, entangled in fishing nets as far away as Japan and the Philippines, he said.

First of all, why “Kuala Lumpur” instead of “Kuala Terengganu”? Please don’t tell me that a leatherback turtle had just nested somewhere in KL, because that should make the cover story instead. OK, maybe they have enough reasons for that. I am, afterall, NOT a journalist *bluek* Ouh, I just remembered, the turtles are no longer associated with Terengganu anymore. Gone were the days.. The clownfishes are taking over..!!

Secondly, were there ONLY about half a million hatchlings released into the ocean between 1961 and 2001? Another long term sea turtle tagging and nesting project conducted by the Sea Turtle Research Unit (SEATRU) of Kolej Universiti Sains dan Teknologi Malaysia (KUSTEM) incubated about 400,000 eggs and released about 350,000 hatchlings into the sea from 1993 to 2005. Now, between releasing (a) 500,000 hatchlings in 40 years and (b) 350,000 hatchlings in 12 years, I am sure you know which project is better more feasible *winks*

Thirdly, the amount of optimism in Mr. K is amazing. He really thinks that the leatherbacks WILL return to Terengganu in the coming years, despite the fact that only one nesting was recorded last year. The leatherbacks are listed as “Critically Endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) for many reasons, Sir.. No doubt, the green and hawksbill turtles are returning to the Sabah Turtle Islands in amazing numbers but that was because all three turtle islands (Selingaan, Bakkungan Kechil and Gulisaan) were gazetted as a turtle sanctuary back in 1976. Which means the collection AND sale of eggs had been completely banned since 1976. You reap what you sow, no..?

And finally, my favourite sentence in the entire article must be this:

Although it is illegal in Terengganu, turtle eggs are openly sold in some markets.

It says sooo very much about the State Government, no?

WARNING: This post contains pictures that may or may not make you puke. Proceed at your own risk.

Recap: Some of the river terrapin eggs that were laid at the project site at Pasir Kumpal, Dungun were brought back to the River Terrapin Head-starting Facility (read: hatchery) on KUSTEM campus because we could not afford to hire somebody to look after them at the project site. The surface of the sand had to be moistened every alternate day, or whenever the need arises to control the incubation temperature. Depending on the temperature in which the eggs were incubated, the hatchlings that have hatched will climb up to the surface of the sand. We call this “hatchlings emergence”.

So this morning, we excavated all the nests in the styrofoam boxes because the incubation duration has exceeded its maximum 80-day. Nests are excavated to rescue weak hatchlings, e.g. hatchlings that are too weak to climb up to the surface of the sand by themselves as well as to prevent them from being attacked by ants, which were attracted to the dead hatchlings or rotten eggs in the styrofoam boxes.

The above pictures shows a dead terrapin hatchling, still in its shell. The hatchling is presumed to be dead in an early stage because the egg yolk is still quite big in size, BUT not too early because most of its anatomy had already been formed; the shell, eyes and claws.

Another dead hatchling.. Or maybe it should be termed “dead embryo” because it did not hatch, and hence should not be called a “hatchling”.. Right?

But not all that were excavated died. In fact, 26 hatchlings were rescued but their shells have not completely opened. These hatchlings are considered “weak and slow” and they cannot be placed into the water immediately. They may not start feeding immediately either.

So what I did the whole day was notching, weighing and measuring these hatchlings, which was pretty time-consuming because their shells have not completely opened, hence making it very difficult to “cut a little part of it”. Plus I spent most of the time brushing away sand that was stuck to their bodies. And because these hatchlings were rescued, most of them were still in their “baby position” and I had to make sure I notched their shell, not the skin of their legs.

And this hatchling may have used its “elbow” to pip the eggshell, instead of using its caruncle (a sharp horny tubercle below the nose of newborn hatchlings, which is used to pierce the eggshell and usually disappears two weeks after hatching – see below).