Kemp's ridley sea turtle nests on Texas beaches jumped 55%
Crews and volunteers documented 697 nests of the world's most endangered sea turtle on Texas beaches in 2026, up from 449 in 2025.
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Crews and volunteers documented 697 Kemp's ridley sea turtle nests on Texas beaches in 2026, Padre Island National Seashore reported. That is a 55 percent jump from 449 nests in 2025. The Kemp's ridley is the world's most endangered sea turtle. In 1978, these beaches saw about one nest every three years. The 697 and the 449 are nest counts for those two years. They measure how many times turtles came ashore to lay eggs, not a census of every turtle at sea.
For the classroom
Kemp's ridley sea turtles are the world's most endangered sea turtle. On Texas beaches in 2026, crews and volunteers counted 697 of their nests, the National Park Service at Padre Island National Seashore reported. That is 55 percent more than the 449 nests counted in 2025. In 1978, the same beaches saw about one nest every three years. A nest count is how many times a mother turtle came ashore and laid eggs. It is not a count of every turtle in the ocean.
- Why does counting nests tell scientists something different from counting turtles in the water?
- What changed between about one nest every three years and hundreds of nests in a single year?
- Why do volunteers walk beaches if the turtles come ashore on their own?
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