Like other sea turtles, hawksbill turtles are critically endangered due to the loss of nesting and feeding habitats, excessive egg collection, fishery-related mortality, pollution and coastal development.

Currently, hawksbill turtles are protected by international agreements like the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the Convention on Migratory Species. This level of international cooperation is essential to the conservation of hawksbills given their wide geographic range.

In Singapore, a small few hawksbill turtles return to the shores during the nesting season between May and October every year. After hatching, these turtles essentially run as quickly as they can to the ocean before a predator can eat them, and then, they are “lost”. Lost, that is, as most would not see them again until they return as juveniles and subadults to their birth shores several years later. That gap of time is called the lost years and has proven to be a challenging life stage to study.

On this episode of Climate Connections, hawksbill turtles researchers Assistant Professor Kim Hie Lim from NTU’s Asian School of the Environment and Regine Tiong, PhD student at NTU share more about their DNA study that’s set to uncover some of the secrets behind lineages of hawksbill turtles that visit Singapore's shores and where they go to nest and forage after hatching.

Feature produced and edited by: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)
Voiced by: Emaad Akhtar
Photo credits: Asian Geographic / NTU
Music credits: pixabay & its talented community of contributors & Smithsonian Channel YouTube