Turtle Conservation

Volunteer in the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve and provide a service for those involved with conserving the yellow spotted sideneck turtle.

Turtle Conservation

The Taricaya turtle ( Podocnemis unifilis) or yellow spotted side-neck river turtle has been threatened over the years mostly by humans. The irresponsible collection and consumption of eggs led to its placement on the endangered species list. In response to this phenomenon, ProNaturaleza initiated the formation of management groups. Due to the efforts of ProNaturaleza and the management groups over 330,000 turtle hatchlings have been released into the wild. It is with this already established and successful program that a volunteer has the opportunity to live and work.

As a volunteer, you will work closely with ProNaturaleza staff, the park rangers and the local management groups to patrol different sectors of three rivers within the Reserve, learn to identify turtle tracks, find turtle nests, rescue turtles, count the number of eggs, record tag marks, assist with relocating the eggs into our artificial hatchery-beaches, monitor the hatchery, and help to release the baby turtles back to the river. The turtle conservation effort has various steps in which a volunteer can assist.

Typical turtle conservation activies include:

1. Construction of an artificial beach for collected turtle eggs (a controlled environment)
2. Collection of eggs from natural beaches (which can be a various-day excursion in small boats deep into the pristine jungle)
3. Relocation of eggs in nests created at artificial beach (very careful handling is needed as even a rotation of the egg can cause a disruption in the incubation)
4. Egg protection until eggs hatch (a monitoring period is needed while the eggs incubate)
5. Hatchling measurement and marking (part of the monitoring and evaluation system)
6. Liberation of hatchlings – (an exciting time; complete with parties!)

The activities realized by the groups vary depending on the season and weather conditions. July is when the river recedes and when the process of constructing an artificial beach begins. Throughout August the primary activity is collecting the eggs. September is the incubation period when the artificial beach is watched and protected (into October), and the liberation usually takes place in November.