Drought and temperatures having serious effects on native turtles

The lack of rain and the high temperatures this summer are having serious effects on nature and wildlife.

The drought brought forward the laying of eggs of the Mediterranean turtles at the Turtle Reproduction Center in L'Albera and their births. 

Director of the center, Andreu Cufí, explained to the Catalan News Agency (ACN) that this type of turtle is well adapted to the Mediterranean climate and to long periods of drought, but that the babies are more vulnerable and need suitable conditions once they leave the egg. 

"When they are born they need water from minute one and also for the earth to be moist, which is what usually happens at the end of August, beginning of September" with the first rains, he says. These rains normally produce sprouts of grass which serve as food. 

The Mediterranean turtle, native to Catalonia, is in clear decline as a species, but they breed well in captivity. 

The first hatchlings arrived on August 18, two weeks earlier than usual.

The ones they have detected have been put in a terrarium to provide them with water and humidity to survive. Cufí says that they have managed to save about 18 turtles but six appeared already dead after the egg hatched. 

"Despite being fully formed, they were dead and completely dry inside the eggs," explains the center's technician. For every nest they've located, they've found one or two in these conditions. 

If this happens in captivity, Cufí says, then in the wild the situation is in all probability even more alarming. "All those that have laid eggs and given birth early will die if they don't have water," he says.

Center technicians also fear the situation will be repeated with other species such as the brook or pond turtle, which usually have later births.

In a normal year, between 300 and 400 Mediterranean turtles are born at the center in L'Albera, the creatures are raised in captivity and once they reach adulthood and have the most resistant shell, after 4 or 5 years, they are released into the natural environment to strengthen the wild population that lives in the Albera mountains.

Cufí, in addition, believes that the lack of predators such as the white throat that they have detected this year is also related to the drought. 

The CRT de l'Albera opened to the public in 1994 and offers tours where you can see native species of turtle from Catalonia, although there is also a space dedicated to exotic species. 

Mainly, they have Mediterranean turtles, around a hundred breeding adults, that they breed in captivity, but there are also stream and pond turtles as well as some exotic species which have escaped or been abandoned.