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Scientists hope the females will return to the same beach some day to lay their own eggs

A year after being born in a nest on La Mata beach in Torrevieja, 16 loggerhead turtles have been released into the sea after being reared at Valencia’s Oceanographic Foundation to give them a better chance of survival.

A total of 64 eggs were actually laid, by a turtle known as “Pura Vida” (Pure Life), on Los Locos beach but moved to a safer spot at La Mata.

Six eggs were taken to the Oceanographic to join its Head Starting programme, while the rest were incubated at La Mata.

When they hatched, 10 more were taken to join their other siblings in Valencia.

These 16 hatchlings spent 12 months under veterinary supervision, with a proper diet, regular check-ups and environmental control until they were big enough to fend for themselves in the wild, because the natural mortality rate at that age is higher.

They have been returned to the same place in accordance with the principle of philopatry, which is the tendency of an organism to remain in or habitually return to the area of its birth for activities such as reproduction, mating, or nesting.

A significant crowd of institutional representatives, schoolchildren, residents and beachgoers gathered to see them off, including municipal biólogo Juan Antonio Pujol and the volunteers who guarded the nest.

The loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) is classified as Vulnerable in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, due to loss of nesting habitats, pollution, the fishing industry and climate change.

The Oceanographic Foundation works with authorities, scientists and the general public to research, rescue and raise awareness about this species, in order to maintain its presence in the Mediterranean.

Images: Ayuntamiento de Torrevieja

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