Massive Arrival of Turtles
The arrival of over 300,000 parrot turtles every night at Ostional Beach, Guanacaste, in the Pacific coast, the last week in September was celebrated by those environmentally minded, but a source of worry for scientists.

The residents of the community are pleased with their efforts because of the protection of the turtle and the beach to which they have dedicated and which has resulted in a 10-fold increase in the number of turtles arriving to spawn at Ostional along the last 20 years.

However, scientist Gerardo Chaves, of the University of Costa Rica Biological Station at the site, explained that the number of nests has overcome the capacity of the beach and that, following a natural cycle, once a spawning site is saturated the turtles abandon it.

The parrot turtle is considered by scientists on the brink of extinction, and Ostional is one of the three beaches in the world where it spawns.

However, scientists point out, many questions regarding the phenomenon at Ostional remain unanswered, such as: Why did the spawning of this turtle here begin 50 years ago? Why does it increase or decrease? How long will the current trend continue?