Sea turtles lay 15 million eggs on Mexican beach

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Monday, August 14, 2017
200,000 sea turtles descend on Mexico beach
Hundreds of thousands of sea turtles are expected to lay up to 15 million eggs on a Mexico beach.

PLAYA ESCOBILLA, Mexico -- Visitors to Mexico's Playa Ecobilla will soon find millions of sea turtle eggs scattered across the beach.

Up to 200,000 sea turtles have descended upon the protected beach on Mexico's Pacific coast for their annual nesting.

The beach is a major nesting area for the vulnerable olive ridley sea turtle, which has been hunted to the brink of extinction.

Although scientists estimate that nearly 15 million eggs could be laid, only 10 percent of them will ever hatch.