SEA TURTLES
SEE Sea Turtles
From leatherbacks to loggerheads, sea turtles live throughout the world’s oceans. While they nest primarily on tropical and sub-tropical beaches, their migrations can take them across entire oceans.The best place to see a sea turtle is while it is nesting on a beach. Some places also offer opportunities to see them in the water as part of research programs.
Did You Know?
- Six of the seven species of sea turtles that swim the oceans are threatened or endangered.
- The biggest sea turtles, leatherbacks, can average more than 6 feet long and up to more than 1,000 lbs.
- Two turtle species, the Olive Ridley and Kemp’s Ridley, nest in big groups in a few places around the world, called an arribada.
- The biggest threats to these animals are entanglement in fishing gear and consumption of their eggs, meat, and shells.
- Sea turtles live in most oceans around the world and nest on beaches in the tropics and subtropics. Some species migrate thousands of miles to find food, crossing entire oceans in the process.
- They spend their entire lives at sea, except when adult females come ashore to lay eggs several times per season every 2 to 5 years. In roughly sixty days, turtle hatchlings emerge from the nests to head to the ocean. Juvenile sea turtles spend their first years in the open oceans and move closer to shore into bays, estuaries, reefs, mangroves, and coastal waters.
- These reptiles have been around for more than 100 million years but now six out of seven turtle species are threatened or endangered. Among the threats these marine creatures face are fishing gear entanglement, habitat loss, and poaching.
Famous Quotes about Sea Turtles
- Take a walk with a turtle. And behold the world in pause. – Bruce Feiler
- World, Walk, Pause Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out. – James Bryant Conant
- Try to be like the turtle – at ease in your own shell. – Bill Copeland
