Articles About Panama Tours And Travel | The Hawksbill Turtles of Panama
The hawksbill is Panama's most prevalent species, living among the coral reefs and rocky environments that provide its main source of food, sponges. Almost exclusively a tropical species, it grows to three feet in length and up to 150 pounds, acquiring its name from the shape of its beak. Its legs and head have a striking mosaic pattern, but its most distinguishing feature, and what makes it most vulnerable, is its multi-hued brown, orange or yellow shell, that humans use to make decorative tortoiseshell items. Though the species receives protections under various international agreements as well as Panamanian law, demand for its shell, along with threats to its habitat, keep the hawksbill's status critically endangered most everywhere.
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More About Panama's Hawksbill Turtles
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Panama's Most Prevalent Species But Threatened Nontheless
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The creatures first arrive in their Panama off-shore habitat from the deep sea at one to three years of age. Every two to three years, females nest at night usually between July and October three times during the wet season. Most nesting takes place in August and September.
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Visitors on Panama tours may observe hawksbills in several locations. One of the best spots is the province of Bocas del Toro in northwestern Panama on the islands and mainland coasts. The most significant nesting sites in Isla Bastimentos Marine National Park are on the islands of Cayos Zapatillas. Other nesting sites are on Isla Colon at Playa Bluff and Playa Larga on Isla Bastimentos as well as in the San San Pondsack Wetlands wildlife refuge on mainland Bocas. Playa Chiriqui, a beach east of Peninsula Valiente, though remote, is a peaceful unpopulated place to visit where hawksbills may be observed. Though still considered the most important Atlantic nesting site for the species, its populations here have dwindled dramatically from what they once were. The Isla de Canas Wildlife Refuge off the Pacific coast on the Azuero Peninsula in central Panama is a popular nesting site for other turtle species, but few hawksbills come there to nest.
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Efforts by such entities as the Sea Turtle Conservancy’s are working with communities to protect the habitat of Playa Chiriqui and nearby Escudo de Veraguas Island to boost populations of both the hawksbill and the leatherback turtle species. Begun in 2003, the Chiriqui Beach Hawksbill and Leatherback Research and Conservation Program consists of monitoring the species, protecting the nesting sites and educating the public about the importance of conservation measures. For more information about the Conservancy’s work, go to www.conserveturtles.org, one of the sources for this article.
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In 2006, the World Wildlife Fund began a study to determine the effects of climate change on hawksbill turtles. Scientists are looking at how temperature changes in air, water and sand may alter nesting and feeding habitat, sex ratios and migration patterns. This data will be used to design a broader study, encompassing the other marine turtle species.
