SANTUARI PENYU DI CHERATING, PAHANG

The Cherating Turtle Sanctuary is managed by the Department of Fisheries Malaysia alongside the State Government of Pahang to ensure the survival of the turtles . Apparently, this centre was established in the year 1972,  and opened to the public in June 1998, as a turtle hatchery in an effort to protect the endanger species when they land here to lay their eggs each year from April to August. The Cherating Turtle Sanctuary also acts as an information center to educate the public about turtles and the need to protect them.

IQWAL @ Turtle Sanctuary Cherating, Pahang

The 0.8 acre sanctuary is located at Chendor Beach,just beside Asia's first CLUB MED in Cherating,Pahang. Admission is free but you can come out with any figure as donation for them to run this sanctuary.

VIDEO
 IQWAL  @ TURTLE SANCTUARY CHERATING, PAHANG

SPECIES

LEATHERBACK TURTLE

Scientific : Dermochelys Coriacea

  Leatherback turtle is the largest and the oldest of all sea turtle species in the world. It has been around for more than 150 million years.

  The leatherback gets its name from its shell, which is

  like a thick leathery skin, with the texture of hard rubber with seven longitudinal ridges. The carapace is black with white pale spots. The leatherback turtle ranges in size from 1.2 meters to 2.4 meters in length and weighs between 225 kg to 900 kg. They can dive to depths of 1,280 meters; deeper than any other turtle and can stay down for up to 85 minutes. Leatherbacks feed primarily on soft bodied animals like jellyfish, sea urchins, squid, mollusks, crustaceans, tunicates, fish, blue-green algae, floating seaweed other marine creatures.

They don’t have teeth, instead possessing spines throughout their throats which stop prey from escaping after being eaten.

Female leatherbacks may lay 4 to 5 times per season,

each time depositing 60 to 120 eggs. Leatherbacks appear to 

nest once every two or three years with an incubation period 

of approximately 60 days.

GREEN SEA TURTLE

Scientific: Chelonia Mydas 

  They are called green turtles because of the color of the flesh. Chelonia mydas are one of the largest turtles, ranging 1.5 meters in length and they can weigh up to 200 kg. They have limbs that are paddle-like, which are used to swim. Their heads seem small compared to their body size. Males are larger than females and the tail is longer, extending well beyond the shell. The carapace can be olive to brown, or sometimes black, depending on the geographic location of the species. Green turtles cannot pull their heads inside of their shells.

Image Credit

Adult green turtles is almost exclusively herbivorous. 

They eat only seagrasses, algae and  marine invertebrates. 

This diet is thought to give them greenish colored fat.

Green turtles nest at intervals of about every 2 years,

with wide year to year fluctuations in numbers if nesting 

females. They nest between 3 to 5 times each season.

                                         

They lay an average of 115 eggs in each nest. 

The incubation period lasts 50 to 70 days.

HAWKSBIL TURTLE

(Scientific : Eretmochelys Imbricata)

  The Hawksbill is one of the smaller sea turtles. Hawksbills get their common name from their tapered heads, which end in a sharp point resembling a bird's beak. The shape of the mouth allows the hawksbill turtle to reach into holes and crevices of coral reefs to find sponges, their primary food source as adults, and other invertebrates.

Color is a dark greenish brown with a marbled or radiating pattern.
The plastron is yellow and hinge-less. The head scales are black to chestnut brown in the center, with lighter margins. The chin and throat are yellow. Adults have an olive green or brown carapace(upper shell) with reddish brown, brown or black markings in a tortoiseshell pattern.

   Hawksbills grow up to about 114 centimeter in in carapace length and
45kg - 70 kg in weight for an average adult, but can grow as large
as 90 kg

   They are normally found near reefs rich in the sponges they like to feed on. Hawksbills are omnivorous and will also eat mollusks, marine algae, crustaceans, sea urchins, fish, and jellyfish.

Olive Ridley Turtle

Scientific : Lepidochelys Olivacea

 
The Olive Ridley Turtle spends most of its time within 15 km of shore, preferring shallow seas for is feeding and sunbathing. However this species is observed in the open ocean as well

 
A small sea turtle with a round, flat carapace  length averaging 60 to 70 cm.  With large, triangular head, and an olive to grayish green carapace. The skin is gray, and the plastron is light greenish yellow or whitish. There are two pairs of prefrontals, and usually 5 - 9 costal shields on the sides, the first pair coming into contact with the nuchal. Males have longer thicker tails than females and well developed curved claws on the forelimbs.

   Adults  Olive Ridleys weigh ranged from 35 to 50 kg.

  Olive ridley sea turtles are strong divers, and have been known to dive up to 150 meters in search of crabs, sea urchins and other bottom-dwelling creatures. They also roam widely in the open ocean in search of sea jellies.

  Many females reproduce every year, but some nest every 2 - 3 years, usually from
1 - 2 times per season, every 14 - 30 days.

Nesting occurs mostly at night, but diurnal nesting also occurs. A female crawls onto the nesting beach, scoops a body pit, then digs a nest and lays a clutch of
30 - 170 eggs, which she covers with sand before crawling back into the ocean. The whole procedure takes less than an hour

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY29SNy0Y9Y

TURTLE NESTING SEASON

Turtles will land on the beach at night, because the turtle needs dark areas to spawn. Some turtles will rise 5 to 10 times to lay eggs in one season (10 to 12 days later). Turtle landings at most is from March to September.

The eggs were incubated in a sand pit for 45 to 60 days and the hatching of the turtles depends on the ambient temperature.

Gender turtle can only be known when it becomes an adult turtles.

Males have longer tails than females.

  

  

The Cherating Turtle Sanctuary Visiting Hours:

Tuesdays to Sundays

9am to 1pm
2pm to 4:30pm

The lunch break is from 1pm to 2pm. The centre is closed on Mondays.)

Fridays
9am to 12:00pm
3pm to 4:30pm
(The centre is closed from 12pm to 3pm for Friday prayer)

For more information, you can call the centre at +6 09 581 9087.