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there were more than 40 baby green
turtles and baby hawksbill turtles
there. The young turtles are kept at the
resort for up to 15 months. As with the
Banyan Tree programme, they spend
the first part of their lives in land-based
pools (which tourists can visit) and
then are moved to lagoon enclosures
before being released into the wild.
Alban Viaud, head of marine biology at
Four Seasons Resorts Maldives, says:
“We rescue eggs from egg collectors
and relocate nest sites. We release 95
per cent of the hatchlings.
“Our research and monitoring
programme uses photo IDs and
sometimes GPS tracking too to
monitor the turtles and their migration
“Maldivian children
visit the turtles, learn about their
lifecycle and their biological and
conservation needs and also our
mascot, Felly the Turtle. They’ve
shown interest and concern,
which is then taken back into the
homes of Maldivian people.
patterns. All of the information goes
into a database.
“The biggest turtle we have is currently
two kilogrammes in weight and 23
centimetres in length. We hope that
it will get to 30 centimetres and then
we can release it. At the end of the
year we plan to release as many of
the turtles as possible, as long as they
have grown enough. We’ll see how
they grow this year.”
MALDIVIAN AIR TAXI
If you visit a turtle conservation project at a resort, you’re
likely to find green turtles and hawksbill turtles being
raised there, being as they are more common than the
other species found in the Maldives. Each of the five
species of turtles found in the Maldives has its own
specific habits and characteristics. Apart from when
they are babies (when they are omnivores) green turtles
are mostly vegetarian and feed on seagrass and algae
in the lagoons. They have short snouts and are usually
lightly coloured with a yellow hued carpace (belly).
Hawksbill turtles have a distinctive curved beak like a
bird of prey, and they use it to probe between corals to
find invertebrates and sponges to eat. They live on coral
reefs. Leatherback turtles, the largest of all turtles, are
usually found in deep water and they seem to mostly eat
jellyfish. Instead of a hard shell, they have thick ridges of
skin along their backs. Loggerhead turtles have reddishbrown
shells and yellow or brown skin. Like leatherback
turtles, they are also found in deep water and they like to
eat bottom-dwelling invertebrates.
If you’re fortunate enough to be able to observe
one of these graceful creatures in the wild, or even
as a youngster growing up in the safety of a resort
conservation programme, it’s likely to be an experience
that you will never forget.
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