India, Oct. 7 -- Most people have a place they would like to protect forever. For actor Marlon Brando, that place was Tetiaroa, a remote South Pacific coral atoll. He first saw it while filming Mutiny on the Bounty and bought it in 1966. Today, decades later, the atoll is a turtle sanctuary. The Tetiaroa Society's February 2026 newsletter reports that more than 15,600 green sea turtle hatchlings are estimated to have hatched there in the 2024-25 season.

The atoll lies 30 miles north of Tahiti and consists of 12 small coral islets around a lagoon. A scientific team first saw a hatchling emerge there 20 years ago, the newsletter notes. That early work turned into a monitoring program, now led by Te Mana o te Moana with assistance from the ...