It’s not common for the endangered leatherback turtle to nest on the beaches of Pinellas County, Florida, but one mama leatherback did. Staff at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium monitored the nest and captured video of the rare baby sea turtles hatching and making their way out to sea. It’s really cute and special to watch.
Clearwater Marine Aquarium posted a compilation video of the hatchlings on Facebook last week. While patrolling the beach one morning, staff found that some of the baby turtles had hatched during daylight hours—a rare occurrence. They brought those hatchlings back to the aquarium for medical evaluation and held them there until nightfall to give them a better chance at living through their transition to the sea.
That night, aquarium staff say they returned to the nesting site to release the hatchlings. While they were there, the rest of the baby turtles began to hatch from the nest. Via an infrared camera, you can see the babies wiggling from their shells and then scooching from their nest on the beach into the ocean. It’s a dangerous journey, even at night, but these lucky little ones made it.
“Pinellas county just made sea turtle hatchling history!” reads the Clearwater Marine Aquarium’s Facebook caption on its post sharing the video. “The first documented leatherback nest on Pinellas county beaches has successfully hatched.”
Watch baby leatherback sea turtles hatching here: