Noting that the eggs were long past due to hatch, officers from Sirinath Marine National Park excavated the nest at about 8pm on Wednesday night (Apr 15), explained Prarop Plangngarn, Chief of Phuket Marine National Park Operation Center 2.
“The eggs in this nest were laid on Feb 7,” Mr Praprop explained. (See story here.)
“After waiting 69 days, the sand over the nest had not subsided and no turtles had hatched, so officials excavated the nest to find out why,” he told The Phuket News.
Officers found that 129 eggs had been laid in the nest, of which 105 were not formed correctly and the other 24 had not been fertilised.
“Most of the eggs had a fungal infection,” Mr Prarop said.
“Also, this nest was shallower than usual. Normally the nest should be around 60-80 centimetres deep, but this nest was only 50cm deep,” he added.
All the eggs were taken to the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) for further examination, Mr Prarop noted.