A GOLFINA TURTLE LAYS EGGS ON THE BEACH ESCOBILLA IN OAXACA, 2001-11-02 (photo)

A Golfina turtle lays eggs on the Escobilla beach in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, November 2, 2001. As the moonlight wanes in Mexico's southern Oaxaca state, hundreds of thousands of marine turtles following a centuries-old instinct emerge from the Pacific Ocean surf to lay eggs under the beach sands. The scene, a seasonal phenomenon at the La Escobilla beach that runs from August to January, has been repeating itself for hundreds of years. "It is probable that they have been born here for centuries and there is a theory that they come to give birth on the beach where they themselves were born," Javier Vasconcelos, the director of the Mexican Turtle Center, told Reuters at his beachside offices. REUTERS/Henry Romero TO GO WITH MEXICO TURTLE HR