No, the humans did not run into Tyrannosaurus Rex!
Instead they got on a bus and travelled the length of the island to visit Levera Beach on the north shore of Grenada in the hopes of catching a glimpse of a Leatherback turtle.
These creatures may not be dinosaurs but, at over 6 foot long and up to 2000 pounds, these are the fourth largest reptiles left on the earth.
Do not worry, this one is not real, but a display in the information centre. The humans took a picture of it for me, in case they did not see one on the beach
Like most turtle species, Leatherbacks are endangered.
The little information centre in the National Park had a small display of the turtle species found in and around Grenada.
These are the turtles we introduced you to at the Tobago Cays
As you can see, most of the money collected and donated goes to conservation rather than fancy displays.
One thing you need to know is that Leatherback turtles never forget the beach they were born on.
When they reach maturity the adult females cross oceans to return to the exact beach they were born on and lay their eggs
Only 1 in a 1000 hatchlings will survive to return to the beach they were born to start the process again.
If you want to learn more, I have added a few links at the end of the page.
It is now time for the humans to head down to the beach and hopefully see a turtle!
Camera check. First, before getting to the beach, all lights have to be covered with a red film and all camera flashes have to be turned off. We can not risk disturbing the egg laying of these endangered turtles. So all the pictures will appear red and grainy.
As soon as the humans got to the beach they were met by volunteers with a bucket of turtle hatchlings that needed releasing. They had surfaced during the day, when predation is the highest, so volunteers had collected them for release once the sun went down.
As soon as these guys hit the sand they were off running for the surf, not all necessarily in a straight line!
These little guys had their own ‘human’ cheering squad as they made it to the sea.A short walk down the beach and the humans happened upon their first adult Leatherback turtle.She had already picked a spot on the beach and had started excavating a hole for her eggsShe used her powerful back legs to dig a narrow hole straight down
Once the turtle stopped digging and started laying eggs, volunteers jumped in to keep a count of how many she laid.
Volunteer catching the eggs as they are laid. You can see the eggs piling up below.
A turtle eggThis turtle had quite the audience while she gave birth
After laying eggs the turtle went into a quiet trance. The humans got a chance to stroke her soft leather shell.
This ‘trance’ did not last long. Soon she was in full ‘flapping’ mode and spraying everyone with sand as she covered her eggs and packed the sand down.
After ‘sand blasting’ her audience she finally felt she had covered her eggs enough and slowly shuffled back into the gently buoyant sea.
Hiking back we happened upon hatchlings emerging from the sand from nests built earlier in the season.
As a ‘parting salute’ to Levera Beach and the Leatherback turtles it was nice to see off one more hatchling off and into the sea of life
There are lots of sources of information on Leatherback Turtles, but here are a few links to get you started.
One thought on “Levera Beach, Grenada – A close encounter with an ancient creature”
Catching up on the blog good to see you are still looking after those humans !