A nearly 100 kg green turtle with a Malaysian tag arrived at Bay Canh island in Con Dao to lay 108 eggs. Six years ago, a mother turtle with an Indonesian tag came to Con Dao to give birth. From 2018 to 2023, more than 145,000 baby turtles will be hatched here, all given tracking tags by Con Dao National Park before being released into the sea.
The green turtle, also known as the Chelonia mydas, is one of the seven species of sea turtles that still appear and breed in Con Dao. The six recorded species of sea turtles are green turtles, big-headed turtles, flat shell turtles, tortoiseshells, leatherback turtles, pineapple tortoises, and Kemp’s ridley turtles. All seven species are listed in CITES Appendix I and all species (except for the flat-shelled turtle) are listed in Appendixes I and II of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS).
According to a Con Dao National Park official, the green turtle weighs around 90-100 kg and is about 40 years old. The card it was wearing had only partial information due to its age and condition. In recent years, Con Dao has become a major breeding ground for sea turtles in Vietnam. Despite this successes there is still much work to be done in protecting these creatures from threats such as poaching and habitat destruction.