One such problem exists in relation to the illegal collection of turtle eggs being removed from the coasts of North and Central America. Poachers steal the eggs, sometimes while the turtle is laying them, and sell them to be eaten. While turtles such as the Loggerhead and the Olive Ridley sea turtle lay large numbers of eggs at a time, they do so only once a year and many of the young that hatch from the eggs do not survive to adulthood. In addition, the clutches are completely defenseless and already subject to attacks by other natural predators. All in all this means that every egg counts when helping to maintain threatened species’ populations.
In an effort to better understand the demand for these eggs, a California conservation group named Paso Pacífico has created a series of faux-eggs using a 3D printer. These decoys have GPS tracking devices inside them, rather than a future baby turtle, and the organization hopes that they will be able to determine who the buyers of these eggs are. The poachers themselves have often been the target of egg protection policy, but in order to address the problem, the root of the demand needs to also be extirpated.“We want to sneak them into nests that are most vulnerable to poaching. It would be really easy for them to grab one of those eggs and not even notice it,” explained Kim Williams-Guillén, director of conservation science at Paso Pacífico.
“We’re not planning on collecting data in real time, unless that’s something that they express real interest in. It’s certainly a possibility,” she continued, noting that the goal is “being able to determine the players with money who are really driving the trade. Being able to remove even a couple of them could have a huge effect.”
In the same way that a few individual poachers can do a significant amount of damage, Paso Pacífico hopes that the information collected from the decoy eggs could lead to the removal of some of the big players in the illegal turtle egg trade. Even if not completely extinguished, the exponential nature of the impacts could be mitigated if a few of the big players were eliminated. Let’s discuss further in the 3D Printed Turtle Eggs forum over at 3DPB.com.
[Source: Washington Post]