Society Islands / French Polynesia
Save the island.
Save the world.
The Living Laboratory : Episode 3
Through the forests and along the shorelines of Teti’aroa, crabs play a vital role that most visitors never see.
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Bailey Field Station News
An update on the on-going work and research happening at the Bailey Field Station.
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Birds on Sticks
Seabirds play a key role in coral reef health: their droppings, rich in nutrients, fertilize lagoon waters and support coral growth.
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Protect. Educate. Empower.
One atoll. A thousand metres of story.
the deep-water submersible
Meet Honu. Built to bring the ocean to everyone.
Built by Tetiaroa Society with DOER Marine and Google, Honu — Tahitian for sea turtle — carries scientists and budding oceanographers to reefs and species too deep for a diver to reach. Descents will be filmed by state-of-the-art 360° XR cameras: Now any classroom on Earth can put on a headset and go on a VR field trip to Tetiaroa.
The nursery in the shallows.
Every November, green sea turtles return to the same sand where they hatched. Just offshore, juvenile lemon sharks spend their first years inside the reef's protection. Teti'aroa's sanctuary work holds both beginnings together: nests mapped and guarded through hatching season, reef edge kept intact so the lagoon can keep raising the predators that hold the food web in balance.
Foundational Data.
Every reef head, every current, every one of 167 species — scanned, sequenced, and rebuilt as a living digital twin. When the real Tetiaroa changes, the twin sees it first.
167 species in the biocode
Pillars of Tetiaroa
Three responsibilities, one atoll.
Research shows us what is changing, education turns that knowledge into care, and global collaboration carries what works beyond the reef, so each pillar strengthens the other two.
Tamari'i
how kids meet the atoll
Tamari'i means children. Some meet Tetiaroa with sandy feet, some through a turtle story, and some through a headset in a classroom far away. The goal is the same: turn wonder into care.
A kid-safe story world where turtle characters unlock AI-powered picture-book adventures, art prompts, and conservation lessons that feel like play.
For children who visit the atoll: reef observations, junior naturalist prompts, turtle-care moments, and shoreline activities rooted in the real place beneath their feet.
School programs, classroom media, and Honu XR field trips are being built to bring Tetiaroa's lagoon, science, and stewardship to children anywhere on Earth.
As you scroll, an archival view of Tetiaroa gives way to present-day fieldwork on the atoll.
1961 now
Our story
An idea changes hands.The Tetiaroa Society helps keep his promise.
Marlon Brando sought to create a living lab that would protect the island, and in turn, all vulnerable island communities. Tetiaroa Society uses fieldwork, research, education, and technology to advance this mission.
Learn more about our storyWhat hatches here
doesn't stay here.
- On Teti'aroa, a nest begins to hatch — our staff guide 96 baby turtles to the water.
- Footage and data from the night patrol stream to our servers and across the world.
- In a classroom on the other side of the world, a child puts on a headset and discovers a passion for the ocean.
- One of those kids starts a local beach clean-up, another studies marine biology.
- 25 years later, one of those sea turtle hatchlings returns to the same beach to lay her own eggs.
- ... and those kids, now grown, teach their own children about our place in this world.