Although sea turtles move swiftly in the ocean, they are slow and defenseless
on land. Male sea turtles almost never leave the water. Female sea turtles
leave the ocean only to lay eggs and, for most species, nest only at night.
A female may nest every two to three years.
Nesting can take between one and three hours. After a female turtle drags
herself up the beach, she hollows out a pit with her back legs and deposits
from fifty to two hundred eggs the size of golf balls. When the last
egg is laid, the turtle covers the eggs with sand, tamps down the sand with
her plastron, and flings more sand about with her flippers to erase any
signs of the nest.
After about two months, the hatchling turtles emerge at night. The light
reflected off the water from the sky guides them to the sea. These days,
car headlights, street lamps, or lights on buildings near the beach cause
some hatchlings to travel in the wrong direction. Waiting herons make fast
meals of other hatchlings. Any babies still on the beach in the morning
are easily picked off by predators or die in the hot sun. It is thought
that when the surviving hatchlings reach maturity, they return to the beach
where they hatched to lay their eggs.
AUSTRALIAN FLATBACK This medium-sized sea turtle nest on beaches in unpopulated
areas of the northern coast of Australia. Saltwater crocodiles, as well
as monitor lizards and foxes, sometimes eat small adult turtles while they
are nesting.
GREEN This medium-to-large sea turtle gets its name from the green color
of its body fat. Its smooth olive-brown carapace is heart shaped. Its
serrated beak, notched like the edge of a saw, helps it feed on turtle grass
and other marine plants. Green sea turtles in the eastern Pacific Ocean
are called black sea turtles, although some scientists consider the black
sea turtle a separate species.
HAWKSBILL This medium-sized sea turtle with a shield-shaped shell is found
in tropical waters around the world. Names for its birdlike beak, the hawksbill
usually nests near its feeding grounds and mates in shallow water off the
nesting beach. Hawksbills climb over reefs and rocks to nest among the roots
of vegetation on beaches.
KEMP'S RIDLEY Also called the Atlantic ridley, the Kemp's ridley is the
world's most endangered sea turtle. Very little is known of its habits.
It is known that between April and mid-August, the turtles nest in large
groups called arribadas, Spanish for "arrival," in only
one place in the world: a beach near Rancho Nuevo, Mexico. In 1947, over
forty thousand female Kemp's ridley turtles nested on that beach in a single
day; in 1992, only five hundred came to nest.
LEATHERBACK The largest of all sea turtles, the leatherback can grow to
over 7 feet (2 m) long. These tireless swimmers have been found throughout
the world's oceans, as far north as Newfoundland and as far south as the
southern coast of Chile. Leatherbacks can also dive to great depths,
as far as 3,000 feet (914 m) deep, probably in search of their favorite
food - jellyfish.
LOGGERHEAD Known for its massive reddish brown head, the large omnivorous
loggerhead sea turtle eats fish, jellyfish, mussels, clams, squid, shrimp,
seaweed, and marine grasses. The loggerhead travels widely and has been
found as far as 500 miles (805 km) offshore. In many areas of the world,
this turtle is hunted for its meat and eggs.
OLIVE RIDLEY Also called the Pacific ridley, this small sea turtle has paddlelike
flippers and grows up to 28 inches (71 cm) long. A speedy nester, it spends
only about forty-five minutes on the beach laying its eggs. Like the Kemp's
ridley, it nests in arribadas.
This above is an extract from the book Turtles pubished by Franklin Watts. 64 pages long, with 21 color photos, charts, glossary and bibliography. "Written for ages 8 and up, and for the adult who wants to read a turtle book with their children and not be bored." The entire book is available by contacting Allen Salzberg, 67-87 Booth Street-5B, Forest Hills, NY 11375-3124 (electronically ASalzberg@AOL.com). $20.00 (includes postage & handling).