On St. Croix, CRFF has directly observed mongooses digging into sea turtle nests at night during our monitoring activities. The photos show disturbed sand and broken shell fragments consistent with nest predation; the turtle species associated with the photographed eggs remains unidentified.

The small Indian mongoose (Urva auropunctata, formerly Herpestes auropunctatus) is an introduced predator in the Caribbean. Sea turtles bury their eggs in sand and return to the ocean, leaving the eggs to incubate without parental protection. When a mongoose digs into a nest and eats eggs, those eggs can no longer hatch. A depredated nest does not necessarily mean every egg was lost, but each egg lost means one fewer potential hatchling from that nest.

Local monitoring gives us a clearer picture of the risk. A published symposium proceeding describes a focused 2011 effort at Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge. Monitors followed nests through incubation and recorded mongoose predation in 35 known hawksbill nests and 56 green turtle nests. That represented 52% of confirmed hawksbill nests and 35% of confirmed green turtle nests; when all potential nests were included in the denominator, the reported figures were 29% and 24%. The proceeding reports that trapping in 2012 reduced predation, although it does not give a specific reduction amount. These are Sandy Point results from that monitoring period, not a predation rate for all of St. Croix. (2013 sea turtle symposium proceedings: https://internationalseaturtlesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/33-turtle.pdf)

A separate study in Barbados helps explain why predation can vary across a beach: mongoose activity was higher near vegetation edges, and hawksbill nests near those areas faced greater predation risk. That study monitored 551 nests over seven years; 149 were recorded as predated. It provides regional context, while the Sandy Point work supplies local evidence. (Barbados study: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0667)

Monitoring matters because it lets conservation teams distinguish nest outcomes, estimate how many nests are affected, and assess whether actions such as trapping change predation. The St. Croix findings show why tracking both nest fate and predator activity can inform protection of nesting beaches. (NOAA sea turtle nesting and incubation information: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/turtle-hatch.html)

What monitoring or nest-protection approaches have you seen work well where invasive predators overlap with sea turtle nesting beaches?

Hand-drawn turtle carrying a whole city on its back through space. The animation is real AR — scan the printed poster with the free Artivive app and it moves like this. This cut runs through the original art, the AR, close-up detail, and the holofoil finish.

Not sure if this is okay, but wanted to share with those who love sea turtles.In the 8th grade I decided not to be an artist so I could be an oceanographer and save the sea turtles (and now I do neither 😅)

Missing my old job in Puerto Rico 🥲
Insta: @eriksprowls

The sea turtle in the first two photos was a recent rescue from some accident (maybe boat, been awhile since I've been there).

New to the group. Hello! Diver, Physiology, and ecology lover here with some newfound underwater photography skills underway… as I progress my skills, any advice where to put my work? Other than this group of course. Welcome to all suggestions!