Superstition Over Sexual Pleasure Is Putting Panama's Sea Turtles at Risk
NATURE
18 November 2022
ByFRANCISCO JARA, AFP
Olive ridley sea turtle hatchling. (Anees/iStock/Getty Images Plus)
The sea turtles of Punta Chame, a peninsula of Panama that juts into the Pacific Ocean, face an existential threat similar to the rhino and pangolin: human superstition.
The eggs of the protected olive ridley turtle, illegally harvested from the beach, are sold door to door in town for 75 cents to $1 each for their purported aphrodisiac qualities.
"Especially men think that by eating turtle eggs they will have more sexual pleasure," said Jorge Padilla, a conservationist with the NGO Fundacion Tortuguias which collects and hatches the precious eggs.
"The eggs won't help you. They are not an aphrodisiac," he insisted.
More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/superstition-over-sexual-pleasure-is-putting-panamas-sea-turtles-at-risk