The term "Sea Turtle" is US English. In British English they are simply called "turtles". They are also sometimes called "marine turtles."
There are seven types of sea turtles: green, loggerhead, kemp's ridley, olive ridley, hawksbill, flatback, and leatherback. All but the leatherback are in the family Chelonioidea. The leatherback belongs to the family Dermochelyidae and is its only member.
The leatherback is the largest sea turtle, measuring six or seven feet (2 m) in length at maturity, and three to five feet (1 to 1.5 m) in width, weighing up to 2000 pounds (about 900 kg).
A leatherback sea turtle weighs as much as a Smart car.
The other species of sea turtles are smaller, being mostly two to four feet in length (0.5 to 1 m) and proportionally narrower.
The majority of a sea turtle's body is protected by its shell. The leatherback is the only sea turtle that does not have a hard shell. Instead, it bears a mosaic of bony plates beneath its leathery skin.
Sea turtles don’t have teeth.
Sea turtles have lungs and breathe atmospheric air and they need to come back to the surface to breathe.
Male sea turtles never return to the shore once they are hatched, whereas females come to the shore only during nesting season.
Sea turtles have a built-in GPS. They use the earth’s magnetic field to navigate their epic voyages.
Thousands of sea turtle hatchlings die annually due to artificial light—they can only find the sea by using the natural glow of the horizon.
Leatherback turtles feed almost exclusively on jellyfish and help control jellyfish populations.
Sea turtles are found in all the world's oceans except the Arctic Ocean, and some species travel between oceans.
The Flatback turtle is found solely on the northern coast of Australia.
The Kemp's ridley sea turtle can only be found in the Gulf of Mexico and along the East Coast of the United States.
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| Green seas turtle By User:Simm |
There are seven types of sea turtles: green, loggerhead, kemp's ridley, olive ridley, hawksbill, flatback, and leatherback. All but the leatherback are in the family Chelonioidea. The leatherback belongs to the family Dermochelyidae and is its only member.
ANATOMY
The leatherback is the largest sea turtle, measuring six or seven feet (2 m) in length at maturity, and three to five feet (1 to 1.5 m) in width, weighing up to 2000 pounds (about 900 kg).
A leatherback sea turtle weighs as much as a Smart car.
The other species of sea turtles are smaller, being mostly two to four feet in length (0.5 to 1 m) and proportionally narrower.
The majority of a sea turtle's body is protected by its shell. The leatherback is the only sea turtle that does not have a hard shell. Instead, it bears a mosaic of bony plates beneath its leathery skin.
Sea turtles don’t have teeth.
Sea turtles have lungs and breathe atmospheric air and they need to come back to the surface to breathe.
BEHAVIOR
Male sea turtles never return to the shore once they are hatched, whereas females come to the shore only during nesting season.
Sea turtles have a built-in GPS. They use the earth’s magnetic field to navigate their epic voyages.
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| Loggerhead turtle |
Thousands of sea turtle hatchlings die annually due to artificial light—they can only find the sea by using the natural glow of the horizon.
Leatherback turtles feed almost exclusively on jellyfish and help control jellyfish populations.
HABITAT
Sea turtles are found in all the world's oceans except the Arctic Ocean, and some species travel between oceans.
The Flatback turtle is found solely on the northern coast of Australia.
The Kemp's ridley sea turtle can only be found in the Gulf of Mexico and along the East Coast of the United States.
Jairo Mora Sandoval dedicated his life to protecting leatherback sea turtle nests from poachers on Moin beach in Costa Rica. Him and volunteers, would collects the eggs and guard them in a hatchery. On May 30, 2014 Mora and four female volunteers were abducted by a group of masked men. The women eventually escaped and informed the police. 26-year-old Mora's bound and beaten body was found on the beach the next morning
FUN SEA TURTLE FACTS
Turtle gender depends on sand temperature while the egg is incubating. Warmer temperatures produce female hatchlings, while cooler temperatures produce male hatchlings.
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| Sea turtle eggs. By Yosri at ms.wikipedia |
In 1974 52 year old Candelaria Villanueva was thrown overboard when her passenger ship sank off the coast of Manila, Philippines, but survived for two days at sea on the back of a giant sea turtle.
In the United States, sitting on a sea turtle is a third degree felony.
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