Eggs Of World's Rarest And Most Endangered Sea Turtle Found On Texas Coast

Kemp's ridley sea turtles are the world's rarest, smallest and most endangered species of sea turtle. Last week, its eggs were discovered at a Texas state park for the first time since 2012, and the third nest discovered in over 20 years.

Volunteers for a Texas A&M turtle conservation program found 107 eggs in the dunes of Galveston Island State Park on Thursday (May 26), according to The Washington Post. "Because Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are the most critically endangered sea turtles in the world, every egg matters," said Christopher Marshall, director of the Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research at Texas A&M University at Galveston.

The newly-discovered eggs are now being housed at an incubation facility off the coast of Corpus Christi. Here, conservationists will protect them and when they hatch, they'll be delivered back to the Gulf of Mexico. They are being held at the facility because storms and high tides on the beach can threaten their survival. According to The Washington Post, eggs left to hatch on beaches have a 45% chance of successfully hatching, while the odds jump to 95% if they're kept in an incubator.

Keeping these eggs in an incubator also means researchers can control the sex of the turtles that hatch. More females are produced in warmer nests, while males are produced in cooler temperatures. Marshall said the goal is to produce more females so they can lay more eggs.

Kemp's ridley sea turtles were abundant in the 1940s. Over 40,000 were documented on a beach in Mexico. But poaching and their accidental capture caused the population to dwindle to less than 250 nesting females. The species almost went extinct, but intense conservation efforts allowed the population to increase rapidly to now 5,500 nesting females in Mexico and Texas.

To learn more about Kemp's ridley sea turtles, click here.