Fretey, Jacques and Peter Puetschel 



The Solar Hatchery of Les Hattes - Ya;Liina;Po 



(French Guiana) ; Possible Control of Sex 



in Artificial Incubation. 



Laboratoire de Reptiles et de Amphibiens 



Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle 



Paris, France 75700 



The Hattes-Ya:Lima:Po hatchery created in 1981 (Fretey and 

 Lescure 1982) works entirely on solar energy. Its non-commercial 

 aim is to create a substitute for the leatherback turtles' 

 natural nesting beach where a series of factors (erosion, excess 

 humidity in the sand, destruction of the eggs by the turtles) 

 interfere with successful incubation (Fretey et al. 1986). 



For two years, considerable work has been done to transform 

 the hatchery so as to hatch the eggs according to sex. The sex 

 ratio to be attained is copied from the one which would normally 

 occur on the beach. Two incubating rooms were built in 1987, one 

 for males, the other for females. 



The male room is maintained at a temperature of 28° to 29° C 

 by forced ventilation and is thermostatically controlled. 



The room temperature for females has to be kept within 30° to 

 32° C. This is why a room with an entry-sluice was built. 



The room is heated by warm air. The air is heated inside of 

 a specially built solar-collector. The warm air is slowly pulled 

 out of the collector (by ventilator 1) on the two highest 

 corners. Ventilator 1 is activated by a temperature drop below 

 30. 5° to 31°C (thermostat 1). The air is blown inside the room 

 and distributed by a pipe system installed below the shelves. 



To have a closed air-circle but still a constant 

 temperature, the cold air is pulled out of the sluice (separated 

 from the hatchery room by an isolating curtain) and blown inside 

 the collector on the deepest level in the middle (ventilator 2 

 starts through thermostat 2 at temperatures below 30° to 30. 5° C). 

 The solar-collector itself is filled with collecting material 

 (cement stones and water-filled bottles, partly black painted, 

 which are' arranged in a special manner to have the air 

 circulating around most material and getting heated before 

 entering back into the room) and covered by a special UV- 

 stabilized foil. 



Ventilator 3 will be activated by thermostat 3 when the 

 temperature goes above 3 2. 5° to 33.0°C. 



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