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Caretta Caretta turtles

The cute residents of the İztuzu coast

Their length is about 1-1.5 metres and they weigh as much as 150 kg. These cute animals of the sea and land swim to the shore. Then, using their hind legs the females dig holes in the sand and, depositing their eggs, then return to the sea. The baby turtles hatch when nature tells them to and, by instinct and using the moonlight as a compass, they head towards the sea. However, this process is not as easy as it sounds. To cross the whole beach and reach the sea is not an easy task for these cute little creatures as this process takes a fair while. The newly hatched baby turtles have to reach the sea before the sun gets scorchingly hot. Those that cannot beat this deadline are defeated by the sun or become food for preying birds. Of course, the dangers posed by the sea have not even started yet. They risk becoming food for larger fish until they reach a certain size. Very few of them survive to reach their maximum size. Those that live to reach breeding age return to the coast where they were born to carry out what their natural instincts tell them to do. This time they return to İztuzu coast where they hatched to lay their own eggs. When the season comes for the baby turtles to hatch, the lighting of fires on the coast is banned as the light from the fires can mislead the babies to breaking out of their eggs at the wrong time, meaning they cannot find the sea. During the turtle hatching season many environmentalists come to İztuzu from all around the world, setting up camp here. The eggs and nesting sites of the Caretta Caretta turtles are protected and these people help the baby turtles to reach the sea. It is forbidden for any permanent structures to be set up on the coast of İztuzu. The start of the construction of a hotel in the area ten years ago drew widespread protests in Turkey and around the world, which led to the scrapping of the project. The German credit institution which had supported the construction of the planned hotel stepped aside as a result of the protests. Instead it provided assistance for projects to help the sustainable continuation of natural life in the area.