SEA TURTLES
“They say the sea is
cold, but the sea contains the hottest blood of all…”
Whales Weep Not, by
D.H. Lawrence
I
know when Lawrence wrote this he was referring to whales, but every time I
think about a creature beneath the sea, I think of this line. And this week
we’re going to take a quick look at one of the sea’s most fascinating and I think
loved creatures, the Sea Turtle.
There
are seven species of sea turtles and they live in warm tropical waters. Of the
seven listed below, six of them can be found in the waters off Australia. We’ll
talk a little bit about sea turtles in general and then I have a wonderful
video that summarizes most of them. Below is a map that shows their range.
Sea
turtles are reptiles and one of the oldest family of creatures on the planet. It is
estimated that they have been around for 110 million years. That would mean
that they were alive at the time of the dinosaurs.
Green
Sea Turtle – endangered
Hawksbill
Sea Turtle – critically endangered
The
major difference between sea turtles and other turtles is that sea turtles
cannot retract their legs and heads into their shell, and their shell, which is
also called a ‘carapace,’ is streamlined for swimming. They are terrific
swimmers and the Green Sea Turtle has been known to stay underwater for seven
hours! That’s truly spectacular diving. Most sea turtles will dive in order to
feed, and their dives, on average, last about five minutes. Their heart rate
slows in order for them to be able to stay beneath the surface for long periods of time. There
may be as much as nine minutes in between heartbeats.
Loggerhead
Sea Turtle– endangered
Leatherback
Sea Turtle – critically endangered
Kemp’s
Ridley Sea Turtle – critically endangered
Sea
turtles migrate hundreds of miles to the nesting grounds from which they were
hatched. Female turtles will come ashore and dig a hole with their back
flippers. They deposit their eggs in the hole and cover it over with dirt and
sand. After they lay their eggs, the
females return to the sea, leaving their babies to hatch on their own and make their way to the sea.
Flatback
Sea Turtle– endangered (Arkive – data deficient)
Olive
Ridley Sea Turtle – vulnerable
Here’s that wonderful video I mentioned at the beginning of
this post.
Hope you have learned a bit about sea turtles today. Like
many of the other animals that I highlight on this blog, sea turtles are
endangered and deserve our attention and protection. Much is being done to help
them, including banning the sale of products from turtles. However, like many
other legally applied restrictions, this is difficult to monitor. The very best
we can do is protect their nesting sites. The Mexican government has done just
that and you can read more about it by clicking on the below link. We can make a difference.
Finally, one more video, which I think is heartening. The
Malaysians have saved the Green Sea Turtle, which was in serious decline. Well,
I’ll let David Attenborough tell you all about it.
My sincere thanks to Arkive.org for the wonderful pictures
and some of the information. Please visit their web site. I have listed their
link in ‘Citations and References.’
I have included a list of other sites that you might like to
visit if you want to learn more about sea turtles.
Enjoy!
Jeanne E. Rogers, Author
The Sword of Demelza
Award Winning Middle Grade Fantasy, Where Endangered Animal
Heroes Roam the Pages!
Citations and References:
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