HATTERAS, N.C. — Author's note: The video above is about how sea turtles are being impacted by climate change. It aired on Aug. 14.
Officials with Cape Hatteras National Seashore took to social media Wednesday morning to share a video of a baby sea turtle leaving its nest on an Outer Banks beach.
The video shows "the last straggler" coming out of the Kemp's ridley sea turtle nest, which hatched earlier this week on Hatteras Island, North Carolina, according to the social media post.
After beach-goers reported the little ones to the Stranding Hotline, biologists went out to document the last few of the emerging sea turtles.
The Kemp's ridley is one of five types of sea turtles found along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, which spans from the southern end of Bodie Island to Ocracoke Island. The others are the leatherback, hawksbill, loggerhead and green sea turtles, according to the National Park Service (NPS).
While these sea turtles can be found along the seashore year-round, the loggerhead, green, leatherback and Kemp's ridley turtles have nested on the beaches, which are the extreme northern limits of their nesting grounds, the NPS said.
The Kemp’s ridley sea turtle is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act following a significant population decline from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Following a record low of 702 nests in 1985, the species has seen a rebound.
What to do if you see a sea turtle on Cape Hatteras National Seashore
People are asked to call 252-216-6892 to report any sighting of a sea turtle. Those who come across a nesting sea turtle are encouraged to keep a distance of at least 30 feet away and stay quiet while she is on the beach.