Our August newsletter is online

Meet a bat we didn't know existed in Nicaragua, follow a tagged sea turtle, and help us name the next turtle we tag.

Conservation in Action
On the night of June 27 on Brasilon beach in southwestern Nicaragua, a green sea turtle hauled herself ashore, dragged herself up the beach to the treeline, dug her nest, laid her eggs, and went on a walkabout.

As she began winding down, Paso Pacifico's turtle rangers covered the green turtle's eyes (turtles are very sensitive to light) and held her in place long enough to attach a SPOT5 satellite transmitter to her shell. Named Saralisa after Paso Pacifico's founders and directors Sarah Otterstrom and Liza Gonzalez, you can follow this green sea turtle — who has traveled all the way to Oaxaca, Mexico — on her tracking page at seaturtle.org.

Read more about Saralisa, her contributions to science, and more in our August newsletter.

Act Now!
Donate today and help us name the next turtle we tag.

'Batwoman' bags new bat in Nicaragua

In yesterday's Arizona Daily Sun:

NAU School of Forestry wildlife ecology professor Carol Chambers, and Nicaraguan bat expert Arnulfo Ramon Medina Fitoria netted, measured, weighed and documented the only Phylloderma stenops bat ever captured and recorded in the Central American country. This particular bat weighs about as much as 20 Hershey's kisses and usually is captured in mist nets above streams in evergreen forests.

Learn more about our research on bats by visiting our website or reading other bat posts on our blog.

Learn more about partner organization Bat Conservation International.

Presenting Alexa

We are pleased to introduce Alexa, the Hawksbill turtle to our colleagues and fellow friends of the sea. Alexa is named for Alex Gaos, co-founder of ICAPO, the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill Initiative.

Alex and Ingrid Yañez have linked many people in Central America in their efforts to discover, understand, and protect the Hawksbill populations of the Eastern Pacific.

Alexa arrived on the beach at the La Flor Wildlife Refuge in southern Nicaragua on the night of August 8th. After she nested, Paso Pacifico rangers outfitted Alexa with a satellite transmitter to track her movements and share information about her migratory patterns and habitat with the ICAPO network. 

Led by Salvador Sanchez and our director of conservation science, Dr. Kim Williams-Guillen, our rangers are professionals who take pride and care in their work monitoring Nicaragua's marine wildlife and their habitat.

In addition to Alex Gaos of ICAPO, we'd also like to thank Randall Arauz of PRETOMA, Cynthia Lagueux of the Wildlife Conservation Society, and Jeff Seminoff of NOAA and WWF, all of whom have shared their expertise. Without their technical assistance, our sea turtle tracking project would not be possible.

 You can follow Alexa here: http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/?tag_id=118066 

Thank you to everyone involved in efforts to promote the protection of the mysterious and beautiful Hawksbill.

 - Team Paso Pacifico

Presentando Alexa

Querido Amigos y Compañeros del mar,

Quiero presentarles a la tortuga Carey, ALEXA. Ella es bendecida con su nombre en honor a nuestro dinámico y motivador líder Alex Gaos.

Gracias a Alex e Ingrid todos somos vinculados como amigos y socios en la urgente causa de descubrir y proteger a la tortuga Carey del Pacífico Oriental.

Alexa arribó a una playa del sur pacífico de Nicaragua (ubicado en el RVS La Flor, Rivas, Nicaragua) durante una noche pacífica del día 8 de agosto. Después de anidar, los guardaparques de Paso Pacífico le colocaron un transmisor satelital para seguir sus movimientos y para compartir la nueva información generada con esta red. También, en el espíritu colaborativo de ICAPO, los guardaparques aprovecharon para compartir y enseñar a un ‘huevero’ local la importancia de la tortuga Carey.

Quiero felicitar y agradecer a nuestros Guardaparques, liderados por Salvador Sanchez, por su profesionalismo y seriedad en el cuido y monitoreo de las tortugas, así también reconocer a Dr. Kim Williams-Guillen quien ahora coordina nuestros programas científicos, incluyendo los transmisores y su mapeo. También quiero agradecer a Alex Gaos (ICAPO), Randall Arauz (PRETOMA), Cynthia Lagueux (WCS) y Jeff Seminoff (NOAA, WWF) quienes han compartido sus conocimientos técnicos sobre colocar transmisores libremente y que sin esa asistencia técnico, no seria posible este logro. También debo reconocer la generosidad de la Embajada Real de Dinamarca y el apoyo institucional de MARENA.

Alexa ya se fue para Costa Rica y estamos agradecidos por los esfuerzos de PRETOMA y otros por protegerla mientras anda forrajeando por ahí.

Puedan seguir la aquí

http://www.seaturtle.org/tracking/?tag_id=118066

Yo sé que hablo por todos en desearle a Alexa un viaje sano y seguro. También hablo por todos en agradecer a Alex e Ingrid por sus esfuerzos infatigables por promover la protección de esta misteriosa y bella tortuga.

Un saludo caluroso,

El Equipo de Paso Pacífico

Nicaragua

Recognizing Paso Pacifico's Rangers

Salvador Sanchez has been selected to travel to Argentina on a full scholarship for the eighth annual Latin American regional ranger training course. We're pleased that Salvador has been selected as the fourth Paso Pacifico ranger to represent Nicaragua in this prestigious program.

We're proud of Salvador and all of our rangers, and we're grateful to Rick Smith and the Turner Foundation for their help building our successful ranger programs.

California's Official Marine Reptile

The California state Senate voted this week to make the endangered Pacific leatherback sea turtle the official marine reptile of California. Assuming Governor Jerry Brown signs the legislation into law, October 15th will officially be Leatherback Conservation Day in the state of California. Mark your calendars!

Paso Pacifico's head turtle ranger, Salvador Sanchez,
inspects a leatherback turtle on one of the beaches
where we work to protect sea turtle nests.

Every year leatherbacks migrate from the warmer waters off the coast of Central America where they nest to colder waters off California's coast where they feed on jellyfish. Considering our US headquarters are located in Ventura and the turtle nesting beaches we protect are in Nicaragua, the symbolism of the leatherbacks' annual migration is especially meaningful to us. We'll be looking to partner with other conservation organizations to observe the first ever Leatherback Conservation Day in California.

Please contact us if you're interested in recognizing Leatherback Conservation Day: wendy (at) pasopacifico.org

The Tortoise

Our friends at the Turtle Conservancy have launched The Tortoise, their new magazine dedicated to the appreciation and conservation of tortoises and turtles and their habitats worldwide.

“Turtles and tortoises have been on our earth for more than 200 million years, before the great dinosaurs roamed the planet, and today they face unprecedented challenges for their survival. No vertebrate Order has a greater percentage of species facing extinction. This publication is about the wonder of turtles and tortoises and about the conservation challenges they face,” says Eric Goode, one of the magazine editors and President of the Turtle Conservancy.