Protecting Jaguars and Biodiversity in the Amazon

Dear Supporter,

Turtle nesting season has started and we are working hard to gather essential data.

GVI conducts research on marine turtles that nest in the southern end of Tortuguero National Park (TNP). The research takes places in two stages, night patrols and daily nest checks on a 3.5 mile stretch of beach starting at the Jalova river mouth. 

TNP is a nesting area for leatherback turtles, an IUCN endangered species, from approximately March – June each year. Occasionally hawksbill and loggerhead turtles are also encountered laying eggs here.  GVI volunteers have had the opportunity to observe and study many of these beautiful, giant animals during the current leatherback season.

Different from other marine turtle species, leatherback turtles do not have a hard carapace- commonly known as the “shell”. Istead, they have a mosaic of small bones covered by thick skin. Their size varies from 130cm to 183cm, however the largest ever recorded was over 3meters long! Their weight can range from 300kg to 500kg.  The incubation period of a leatherback turtle is around 65 days, and you can find approximately 80 eggs per nest.

As leatherbacks are the largest of the sea turtles, and one of the most endangered, patrolling their nesting beaches tagging, measure & monitor (which is called “working” a turtle) is an important research activity to be able to record presence and the history of leatherbacks. All data collected by GVI and our volunteers goes to our partner organization, Sea Turtle Conservancy (STC), to be compiled with their data and produce reports for the national park, the Costa Rica Ministry of Environment, the scientific community and the general public, on the state of turtles and nesting in TNP. It also contributes to the worldwide body of knowledge on marine turtles and nesting.

Night patrols at Jalova are conducted from 8pm to 1am. Our objective is to collect data on sea turtles coming ashore to lay eggs. As part of the protocol designed by our partners at the STC, turtles are tagged for individual identification, and biometric data, for example, carapace length is measured and recorded. Our volunteer research assistants work alongside GVI staff to collect this information throughout the night.

We have also done a marathon night patrol covering Jalova to Tortuguero Town, a 15 mile stretch taking 7 hours on foot. After every one of these night patrols, a nest check patrol went out the following morning to oversee the state of all the nest that have been marked during the season, and that are being monitor to determinate the stage and conditions of the nests. All this data gives us information on the survival rates of the nests and the hatchlings, and also gives us a better understanding overall of our beach and our turtles. 

For the first period of 2015 leatherback season, from April to mid May, GVI has worked 37 leatherback turtles and marked 19 leatherbacks nests, as well as 1 hawksbill nest. That means that so far this year, GVI has worked and marked more leatherback sea turtles than last year’s total count for the season.

We thank you for your continued support, without your generous donations research such as this would not be possible. 

Best Wishes, 

GVI Costa Rica

Links:

• The Charitable Trust

Dear Supporter,

Since the start of 2015, six new species (5 birds, 1 mammal) have already been added to the Jalova Species Inventory as a part of the Incidentals Project!

Birds have had the most success; accounting for five of the six new species added to the species list: Herring Gull (Larus argentatus), Olive-backed Quail-Dove (Geotrygon veraguensis), Bicolored Hawk (Accipiter bicolor), Spotted Antbird (Hylophylax naevioides) and Dot-winged Antwren (Microrhopias quixensis). Additionally the Mangrove Cuckoo (Coccyzus minor) (Figure 1.) was seen from the beach and found foraging in coastal vegetation in January. Though this is already included on the inventory, it has not been seen for over 2 years and, according to our field guides, the species is not thought to occur in this area. Our intern James identified the bird and is using it as one of the 10 ¨tricky Id’s¨ which he needs to achieve as a part of the internship.

It is not often we add a large mammal to the species inventory; however 2015 seems to be a lucky year. The Greater Grison (Galictis vittata) was spotted in the coconut plantation by staff members Renato and Charlotte while setting up an orienteering course for new volunteers. These animals are considered rare throughout their wide range and Costa Rica is the only country in which they are legally protected. They are carnivorous and primarily consume small vertebrates including snakes. Greater Grison has subtle webbing between their toes making them adept swimmers. Like their skunk relatives, the Grison secretes a pungent musk from their anal glands when threatened.

As if that wasn’t enough excitement, a Mexican Prehensile-tailed Porcupine (Coendou mexicanus) was recently seen on base, just outside the kitchen. The last visual we had on this species was in September, 2012; however we knew one had made the Jalova base home because we had caught it twice on camera traps set up in the trees on base just before Christmas, 2014.

Staff and volunteers are feeling motivated by the success of the New Year and hope to continue adding species´ at this rate throughout 2015

Thank you for your continued support on this project!

All the best

GVI Jalova

Links:

• www.gvi.org