Malaysian endangered turtle lays eggs on Vietnam archipelago

The turtle came ashore on Bay Canh Island to lay eggs on Monday night. Con Dao national park rangers then found out that the turtle had a Malaysian tracking tag on its body. Con Dao is around 550 km from the nearest Malaysian city, Kuala Terengganu.

An employee of the national park said the turtle weighs around 90-100 kg and is around 40 years old. The inscriptions on its tracking tag have partially faded, so it was not possible to read all the information on it.

Six years prior, a turtle with an Indonesian tag also landed at Con Dao to lay eggs. Last year, over 2,700 green sea turtles came to the archipelago to lay eggs.

The green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) is one among seven turtle species present and reproducing in Con Dao. From 2018 to 2023, over 145,000 turtles eggs have hatched in Con Dao. They are tagged by the Con Dao national park to be tracked before they are returned to the sea.

The green sea turtle is classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.