The sea turtle is a much-loved animal by humans because it is very harmless and at the same time beautiful to watch. The sea turtle has an incredibly distinctive appearance and is one of the oldest animals in the world. The sea turtle can become as old as man, and in fact more. It has been proven that a sea turtle can grow up to 200 years old. The sea turtle has lived on earth for more than 150 million years, and has not changed much in that time. Together with the crocodile, it is thus one of the few surviving species from the time when dinosaurs existed.
Facts about the sea turtle
| Location: | Asia, Africa, Europe, America and the Ocean |
| Life expectancy: | 150 years |
| Weight: | 36 kilos to 900 kilos |
| Size: | 1 to 2.5 meters long |
| Food: | Aquatic plants, jellyfish, small animals, seaweed |
| Quantity: | 300,000 |
| Fun fact: | Sea turtles have an inner compass, and can therefore find their way to anywhere in the world. |
Characteristics
Sea turtles can be vastly different, with seven different species. The sea turtle species, for example, have different weights, the appearance of the shield and the size. The smallest sea turtle has a weight of about 35 kilos whereas the largest can reach a weight of about 900 kilos. The largest of the sea turtles is the leatherback turtle, which can grow up to 2 meters long and weigh 900 kilos. The leatherback turtle is one of the largest living reptiles in the world. If you are lucky, you can see sea turtles at the Great Barrier Reef on your trip to Australia .
The sea turtle’s pattern on the shield is unique to each sea turtle. This shield can be in several colors, however, they are typically available in the colors black and brown. The body shape of the sea turtle itself is perfectly adapted to a life in the sea. Its streamlined body allows it to glide easily into the water and minimizes water resistance. One would think that its relatively heavy but strong body would make it difficult to move at sea depths, but on the contrary. Its powerful, shovel-shaped forefoot allows sea turtles to move quickly forward in the water, and it is not entirely wrong to suggest that sea turtles almost “fly” underwater. The sea turtle’s head seems immensely small compared to its giant body. Due to the shape of its arms, the sea turtle cannot hide in its shield as other turtle species can.
Food
Sea turtles are not picky reptiles, on the contrary. They eat very varied and you can say that they use all the benefits of the sea. The different species eat small fish, marsupials, jellyfish, aquatic plants, seaweed and fungi. It is really good for the natural population of plants and animals in the oceans that the sea turtles eat just that. They help to maintain a natural control in the water and actually improve photosynthesis by eating the sea’s plants and small animals. It eats small animals that destroy the natural control of the water, for example the jellyfish.
Pregnancy
According to DigoPaul, the sea turtle is a reptile and lays eggs like other reptiles. By only being fertilized once, the females have enough sperm to lay eggs the next five times or more. Sea turtles have a very special tradition for where the eggs are to be laid. They place them where they themselves were born. How the females find it is a mystery and there are many theories on how they do it? Maybe they can smell it, maybe it’s a magnetic force or they’re navigating for the stars. Once they have found their way back to their birth beach, they lay eggs every night during the breeding season. It happens especially at special times of the year and on certain sandy beaches.
Females dig a deep little nest down in the sand and can lay more than 100 eggs at a time. Here the eggs lie for two months, after which they hatch. Temperature is what determines the sex of a sea turtle. The sea turtle has an extremely harsh start to life. The young must be quick to fight their way into the water so as not to be killed by birds of prey and other animals. Not even in the water is it safe where a lot of predators and sharks eat the little sea turtles like popcorn. It is said that if a female turtle lays 1800 eggs throughout her sexually mature life, only 3 will survive and become adult turtles. In the meantime, this is also enough to keep the stock up.
Herds
Sea turtles are not a herd animal. The sea turtle typically spends its day alone. It hunts food alone and eats food alone. It is only when it is to be fertilized that it needs to meet with other turtles. The sea turtle is thus not insanely social, which is also proven by the fact that it is only necessary to be fertilized once to be able to breed 5 times.
Family
The sea turtle is a reptile and is okay under sea reptiles. Sea turtles live in all oceans except the Arctic. The sea turtle cannot live in water that has a water temperature lower than 10 degrees. There are seven different species of sea turtles. These sea turtles are called leatherback turtle, soup turtle (green sea turtle), the true karate turtle, the illegitimate karate turtle, Australian flat-backed turtle, olive-colored ridley turtle and kemps ridley turtle.
Travelers’ questions about the sea turtle
How does the sea turtle find its way back and forth in the sea?
The sea turtle crosses many different gardens throughout its life, and can easily find “home” again, to where it grew up. As a result, sea turtles swim thousands of miles each year. This is because when the sea turtles have to breed, they do so where they were born. That is, it chooses exactly the same beach on which they were born – even though that beach is many kilometers away and they have to cross several gardens to get to it.
Sea turtles utilize ocean currents when traveling back and forth because they act as underwater transport belts. Just as we humans want to take the train, so do the sea turtles take the ocean currents. This is because it saves them energy on their long swims. The sea turtles have a completely unique sense of place, and can find their way across the world’s oceans. This sense of place is due to the fact that there is a built-in “compass” in their brain that helps them navigate and find their way around the world’s oceans.
What is the difference between a sea turtle and a turtle?
One would think that the difference between the two is not very marked, but more that one lives on land and the other lives in the sea. However, it is also the primary difference between the turtle and the sea turtle. But there is another big difference, because these two do not have the same kind of shield. The vast majority of land turtles have very domed shields, where the sea turtles’ shields have adapted to life in the water. The sea turtles therefore have more streamlined shields, which allows them to move quickly in the water.
What does the sea turtle’s shield consist of?
A sea turtle’s shield is made up of bones, which is very atypical for animals with this kind of protection. Many other animals’ back shields are often formed by hard scales. The shield surprisingly consists of 50 to 60 bones, all of which are closely connected. It is believed that the shield is a further development of the sea turtle’s ribs and spine, and that the turtle once many millions of years ago did not have a shield.
How do you tell the difference between a male and a female turtle?
It is incredibly difficult for us humans to see the difference between a male and a female turtle. It’s actually not that straightforward either. The genitals of the sea turtle and turtle are only to be found under the shield and are therefore “hidden” from the eye. Males and females also do not look at each other according to what sex they are. Instead, they make use of their sense of smell. The male can smell when the female is ready to mate, and that way he knows that it is a female sea turtle.
