 A giant green sea turtle deposits a clutch of soft-shelled, mucus-covered eggs on a Pulau Selingaan beach |
The island of Pulau Selingaan in the Sulu Sea off Malaysian Borneo, 40 kilometres from the Philippines sea border, is one of a small group of 'Turtle Islands' in a declared marine park that sits in ancient turtle migration and breeding lanes. Almost every night throughout the year a dozen to twenty of the lumbering beasts return instinctively to the island of their birth to lay a clutch of between 40 and 180 eggs. The nightly process of saving and releasing has become a well-supervised tourist attraction. It is garnished by the opportunity to become acquainted with newly-hatched baby turtles who run up and down arms and plunge into pants legs and sleeves.
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