South Africa is home to 5 species of turtles: Leatherback, Loggerhead, Green, Olive Ridley and Hawksbill, many of which are vulnerable and critically endangered. As one of the oldest lineages of vertebrates, turtles have survived many mass extinctions, including the Cretaceous–Paleocene extinction event that wiped out more than three-quarters of animal and plant species on earth. Turtles are excellent navigators – they often migrate hundreds, even thousands of kilometres between feeding and nesting grounds. It's estimated that only around 1 in 1000 marine turtle hatchlings make it to adulthood. Male turtles never leave the sea, but females come ashore to lay eggs – amazingly to the same beach where they themselves hatched!

Conservation of turtles has been ongoing, since turtles generally have long-life cycles, late maturity, and narrow habitat ranges, which require long-term, multi-faceted conservation efforts. As they are long-lived and temperature-sensitive, they are known to face an elevated extinction risk especially in the light of climate change. Plastic pollution, over-exploitation and fisheries bycatch are also among the top threats to turtles. 50-80% of dissected turtles rescued and rehabilitated have plastic pieces stuck in their digestive systems, making it hard for them to eat and digest food. Development along coastlines, causing habitat encroachment, destroys nesting beaches, making it harder for female turtles to lay their eggs. Overfishing and destructive fishing practices also threaten turtles as they are often caught as bycatch.

We need your support to create a future for people and nature

Make a symbolic adoption of a turtle today to show your love and support for our marine ecosystem.

What is WWF doing?

Through collaboration with partners and fisheries, WWF has been part of conserving marine life and advocating for more sustainable fishery operations. Turtle exclusion devices have been employed by certain fisheries to allow turtles to escape fishing nets easily. In other instances, some fisheries have implemented changes in their fishing hooks, to circular hooks enabling turtles to be rescued from line fish operations, unharmed. Furthermore, the WWF-SASSI (Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative) lists seafood based on their sustainability status, urging consumers and buyers and sellers of seafood to select options that support sustainable fisheries – ones that have minimal harm on the marine environment, and minimal levels of bycatch.

WWF also engages in fishery improvement projects (FIP), bringing together fishers, scientists, and other stakeholders to identify environmental challenges in a fishery and develop a stepwise approach to tackle those challenges, including conservation of endangered, threatened and protected marine species.

How does the symbolic adoption work?

First of all: thank you. You’re choosing something different. This is not a normal gift. This is a special gift because it will help protect the beautiful and fragile nature that surrounds us.

This is a perfect gift for animal lovers, environmentalists or simply people with a big heart.

What you get

Certificate

A digital symbolic adoption certificate.

Photograph

A beautiful digital photograph.

Cuddly toy

An optional soft toy to love forever. *Toy may vary from image shown.

Regular updates

We'll keep you updated on how you're supporting our vital work including sending you adoption updates two to three times a year.

Did you know?

Leatherback turtles do not have teeth, instead they have two sharp cusps in their mouth.

Leatherback turtles live a fairly long life of 45 to 50 years.

Turtles belong to one of the oldest reptile groups in the world.

Unlike tortoises, marine turtles can’t retract their heads and flippers into their shells.