Rare Leatherback Sea Turtle Lays Eggs on Virginia Beach in First Recorded Nesting in the State
A leatherback sea turtle has laid eggs on a Virginia Beach shore, marking the first recorded leatherback nesting in Virginia. The turtle laid the eggs the night of Saturday, July 25, on a Navy-owned beach at Naval Air Station Oceana’s Dam Neck Annex, about five miles south of the resort area, according to The Virginian-Pilot. Patrollers who monitor the beach for signs of turtles first discovered tracks in the sand the next morning and shared photos with the Virginia Aquarium’s stranding response team. Erin Bates, the aquarium’s stranding response rehabilitation manager, said she couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw the pictures. “I had to pinch myself,” said Bates, who has worked with the stranding program for 17 years. According to officials, the tracks appeared wider than those left by loggerhead turtles, which are known to nest on area beaches, leading Bates and others to wonder whether it could be a leatherback. “A joke that we have in all our patroller trainings every year is this is going to be the year that we find the leatherback crawl,” she told the outlet. “I thought it was a pipe dream, like it was never going to really actually happen...”
Read more:
Rare Leatherback Sea Turtle Lays Eggs on Virginia Beach in First Recorded Nesting in the State
