A Turtle's Tale
Four Seasons Resort Maldives at Kuda Huraa is renowned for the special attention it gives to its youngest guests … even those with shells and flippers. Undoubtedly the island’s cutest residents, the little turtles in the Marine Discovery Centre’s turtle pools are no strangers to Four Seasons inimitable care. They’re here thanks to the Resort’s Maldivian Sea Turtle Conservation Program (jointly established with Four Seasons Resort Landaa Giraavaru), which works with island communities across the Maldives to monitor and protect Maldivian sea turtles.
A few lucky endangered green and hawksbill hatchlings from protected nests make it to Kuda Huraa’s specially built turtle pools for up to 15 months to improve their chance of survival in the wild. While there they are regularly cleaned, weighed, measured and monitored, as well as being fed a fresh daily diet of their favourite squid, lobster and fish eggs. “Approximately one in one thousand turtle hatchlings survive to maturity in the wild,” explains Marine Discovery Centre Manager, Alban Viaud. “These little guys won’t be returned to the sea until they are well over a year old, by which time they’ll be around 30 centimetres and 4 kilos – too big to be a snack for a lot of the predators that hunt them as babies.”
Alban and his team care for around 40 turtles at any one time, with the oldest residents in the pools having recently celebrated their first birthday. “We’re working towards releasing the oldest turtles with satellite tags,” he explains. “It’s only by understanding more about their migration routes and foraging grounds that we can play a greater role in preserving their species.”
Until that date, the likes of Rambo, Ashy and Pickle reside blissfully as Kuda Huraa’s longest-staying residents. Who said life as a baby turtle was always tough?
