1. MARINE TURTLES COME IN SEVEN DIFFERENT SPECIES
More than 100 million years ago, marine turtles lived in harmony with dinosaurs. Seven different species of marine turtles are now recognized by scientists:
- Hawksbill
- Loggerhead
- Leatherback
- Olive ridley
- Green
- Flatback
- Kemp’s ridley
There are six of them that are in danger of going extinct, but it’s difficult to determine how vulnerable the flatback is without more data.
2. MARINE TURTLES HAVE NO TEETH
They grip their food using their mouth, which resembled like a beak. Keratin is used to make this beak (the same material as your fingernails).
3. THEY’RE QUITE ‘ARD
Because their shells are composed of more than 50 joined bones, turtles physically wear their bones outside. They can also float because of their flexible, light bones.
4. THE YOUNG LIVES OF THEM ARE A MYSTERY
The “lost years” are the first few years of a marine turtle’s life. This is due to how challenging it is to observe the period from when the hatchlings emerge until they return to the shallow coastal waters to graze. We still don’t fully understand the lost years they spend at sea, which can be up to 20 years.
5. THEY COULD BE GIANT
The size of marine turtle species varies widely. The leatherback can grow up to 180 cm long and weigh 500 kg, while Kemp’s ridleys are the smallest at roughly 70 cm long and up to 40 kg in weight. That is ten times heavier than that! Unbelievably, Wales is home to the largest marine turtle ever discovered. In 1988, a leatherback measuring 2.5 m long, 2.5 m from flipper to flipper, and weighing over 900 kg (more than 140 stone) was discovered on the shore.
6. IT’S THE FITTEST THAT SURVIVE
Only about 1 in 1,000 marine turtle hatchlings are thought to survive to adulthood. This is due to the length of time it takes for them to mature and the numerous threats that hatchlings and juveniles have to cope with, including predators and marine plastics.
7. THEY GENERATE SOME FASCINATING NOISES
When they are nesting, female leatherbacks emit a variety of unusual noises, some of which resemble human belches.
8. SADDENING BUT LESS SALTY
Sometimes, turtles can appear to be crying, but they are actually excreting extra salt through a gland called a “salt excretion gland” that is located near the corner of their eye (from swallowing salty seawater). This gland’s salt excretion has the potential to be twice as salty as seawater.
9. LIFE IS A MARATHON, NOT A TRACK MEET
The longest recorded migration by a marine turtle was made by a female leatherback who traveled approximately 13,000 miles over the course of 647 days from Indonesia to the west coast of America. Over 20 miles per day, in fact.
10. THEY NEVER LEAVE HOME
Females lay their own eggs and bury them in sand “nests” on the same beach where they first emerged. The remarkable sense of direction that marine turtles possess is a result of their sensitivity to the Earth’s magnetic fields.
THE THREATS TO MARINE TURTLES ARE MANY
The largest danger to sea turtles is probably getting unintentionally tangled in fishing gear. More than 50% of marine turtles are thought to have consumed plastic or other human waste, frequently mistaking it for food like jellyfish. Additionally, littered beaches might reduce nesting areas and obstruct young hatchlings’ routes to the ocean.
Habitats for turtles are being destroyed and are in danger. For instance, if climate change is not stopped, 50% of the world’s coral reefs will no longer exist by the year 2050.
Climate change can lead to sea level rise, which can flood nests, an increase in sand temperature (higher temperatures produce more females than males, skewing sex ratios), and an increase in storm events, which will impact the survival of hatchlings.