Drones have brought us a completely new insight into the world and allowed us to capture amazing images and footage that would have previously been near impossible. This new footage captured off the Costa Rican coastline is a testament to this!
The fantastic footage was captured in 2016 by Vanessa Bezy, a marine biologist, but was only released recently and shows thousands of turtles heading towards land to lay their eggs. It is estimated that an area the size of an American football field contained around 5,000 of the sea creatures and the entire flock of turtles covered an area as large as 1,000 football fields, meaning the number of turtles could easily be in the millions.
The footage which was taken as part of a study into Olive Ridley Sea Turtle reproduction was filmed in a region just off Ostional National Wildlife Refuge and can only be described as mesmerising.
Bézy said:
“I immediately knew there was something special going on. To this day I’m still blown away by the video. They look like bumper cars out there.”
Roldán Valverde, scientific director of the Sea Turtle Conservancy in Florida, added:
“This is the only time I’ve seen a video capturing this phenomenon in the water. Most of the photography documenting this occurs on the beach.”
His comments showing just how important drones have become in the world of wildlife photography.
The Ostional refuge was established in 1983 as a protected area specifically for the turtles, but it is believed that their numbers may be under threat due to environmental change, and while their numbers are still currently abundant they have very few nesting sites globally and combined with the fact that a very small percentage of baby turtles make it into adulthood this has raised concerns of their long-term situation.
Bezy hopes that the wonderful footage will lead to greater scientific knowledge of the turtles and their habitat, as well as increasing public awareness of these sea-dwellers. Indeed one of the reasons the footage was taken was as part of an investigation into why such a great number of turtles gather in this specific area between August and October, with potential factors being the type of sand on the beaches and ocean currents.
Have a look at the video footage below and enjoy the swarm. It truly is amazing!
COMMENTS