On Friday, October 1st, the Morcone Beach witnessed a wonderful adventure: the surprise birth of Caretta caretta sea turtles.

In the morning, a newly hatched turtle was spotted in distress, having become entangled but fortunately was helped to reach the sea. The presence of this little turtle and the sighting of small tracks left by the flippers of dozens of other marine hatchlings were evidence of a birth that had likely taken place during the night.

From the nest, which was secured and monitored, another 17 marine hatchlings emerged during the night between October 2nd and 3rd.

The opening of the nest was carried out on Saturday, October 9th, by researchers from ARPAT, the University of Siena, the Calci Museum - UniPi, and the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of the Lazio and Tuscany Regions.

Inside the nest, 4 living hatchlings were found, and after being weighed and measured, they were placed on the “launch track” created by the volunteers of the Cigno Verde, and slowly made their way to the sea.

The shell count then revealed that 85 eggs had been laid in the nest, 72 of which had hatched. This is likely the highest reproductive success rate among the 7 Caretta caretta nests confirmed this year in Tuscany.