Sea Turtle Hatchery – Galle

Sri Lanka is home to a number of endemic species that are not to be found elsewhere in the world. It’s quite literally overflowing with wildlife from the elephants roaming in the rural areas, to massive blue whales found off the southern coasts, to the hundreds of bird species you can spot across the country.People from all over the world is visiting Sri Lanka, not just for its beautiful beaches and ancient cities, but also to see the wildlife close up.

The area on the west coast of Sri Lanka sees particularly high levels of sea turtles.Most of the establishments along the west coast market themselves as ‘sea turtle conservation projects’. 

Many species of sea turtles in these establishments are endangered, so the projects describe themselves as organizations which have as their number one priority the conservation of these beautiful animals.

On the south coast of Sri Lanka, turtles have laid their eggs for generations.

Swimming in from the Indian Ocean, they drag themselves on the beaches near the city of Galle and dig their nests, leaving the eggs behind.Weeks later, their babies should hatch and make their way down to the coastline and into the water.

Not all baby turtles survive In fact, newborn turtles’ natural survival rate around the world is typically about five percent. But all of that is part of a balanced ecosystem.

Turtles generally lay more than one hundred eggs, so enough make it through to keep the species going. The rest become food for predators, which helps those species survive.

You can never hold a baby sea turtle as it causes them to stress and impacts their imprinting (their navigation mechanism to learn their way back to shore.