ZIMS at Work: Cayman Turtle Conservation and Education Centre celebrates 10 years as a member of global nonprofit Species360

Recent DNA studies show that 90% of the green female turtles returning to Grand Cayman to nest are genetically related to the turtles from the Cayman Turtle Conservation and Education Centre. (Photo: CTCEC)

It’s hard to imagine the Cayman Islands without the annual emergence of sea turtle hatchlings! But that is exactly what scientists at the Cayman Turtle Conservation and Education Centre (CTCEC) saw as recently as 1999.

While the Centre had begun a captive breeding and release program, it would be years before turtles emerging from that programme would return to nest. Green turtles live for 70 years or more and females do not mature and begin to reproduce until they are 25 to 35 years old. Then they migrate, returning to nest on a beach near where they hatched.

“The cycle was broken. There were no Green sea turtles nesting in Grand Cayman, so there would be no hatchlings returning when they matured,” said [INSERT NAME].

CTCEC Curates Data for Conservation and Scientific Research

Cayman Turtle Conservation and Education Centre had a long road ahead. Along the way, its staff began recording every feeding, medical treatment, hatchling release and more. To do so, the centre joined nonprofit Species360 which facilitates international collaboration in curating and sharing information on species.

In fact, CTCEC is celebrating 10 years as a member of the global Species360 community. As part of Species360, CTCEC uses the Zoological Information Management System (ZIMS) to record and share information on its turtles within the team and with others caring for the same species worldwide. ZIMS makes it easier to record relevant information quickly, adheres to global data standards, and also provides CTCEC staff with access to Global Medical Resources that are essential to treating disease and injuries.

Over 1,300 institutions like CTCEC participate in Species360 and use ZIMS, making it the largest database on species in human care. Ultimately, CTCEC’s ZIMS data is used in groundbreaking ecology and conservation research. Learn more about one such scientific study, and its impact on readers around the world, here.

Breeding Success: CTCEC-released turtles come back to nest

Along its own coastlines, the Centre breeding and release programme has proved successful. Today, there are more than 200 nests in Grand Cayman each year — and recent DNA research shows that 90 percent of these nesting females are related to turtles in the Centre.

Grand Cayman has 200 Green sea turtle nests have each year — after disappearing by 1999. Ninety percent of the nesting females are related to turtles in the Cayman Turtle Conservation and Education Centre. (Photo: CTCEC)

In all, the Cayman Turtle Conservation and Education Center has released more than 32,000 turtles into the wild, including both hatchling turtles and turtles that are between one and two years old. A translocation programme relocates eggs from the breeding beach located in the facility to one of the turtle friendly verified beaches, like world-famous Seven Mile Beach in Grand Cayman.