While we were in Sri Lanka in January, we went to a sea turtle hatchery to celebrate Joy’s 12th birthday.

At the hatchery, they kept sea turtles to prevent them from dying or being snatched up by other animals when they are eggs. In the night, after the turtles lay the eggs on the sand, people dig the eggs out and then put them in the sand at the turtle hatchery.

 

 

Then the workers move them to salt water pools where they feed them and care for them as they swim around and grow.  Once they are big enough they put them into bigger pools or release them into the ocean.

(Nicole’s note: this releasing of the sea turtles on the local beach also helps imprint the location for the sea turtles. Years later, when they are ready to lay eggs of their own, they will return to the same beach on which their own egg hatched and they entered the ocean.)