World Sea Turtle Day Pt 2

Good morning all, I hope you all had a good weekend. I said in last week’s post, that I was going back to my hometown, even though it brought me some anxieties going back there. But whilst I was there I went to see my aunt, it was so good to see her as the last time we had seen each other was at my mums funeral, which wasn’t such a great day. I was with her for over two and a half hours, which seemed to just fly by so quickly, we sat outside, catching some rays, seeing as Sunday was such a beautiful day, we chatted and laughed until our heart’s content. I even got to see my cousins which was good to catch up with them too. It was sad when the time came to say goodbye.

World Sea Turtle Day is a chance for us to raise awareness and to celebrate these historic creatures that have been around for millions of years. This specific day is to highlight the importance of them and show how vital and significant they are. They are one of the most majestic creatures to habitate this world, and they come in many different shapes and sizes, and they are no different to other creatures that roam this planet. They all have a part to play in making the world what it is today. Looking at these beautiful creatures from the outside, you may think they live a very simple, stationary and inactive life, but when you go in and take a closer look at them, you will find them to be truly enchanting creations. All animals whether in the ocean or on land should be preserved and protected. Here are some interesting facts about Sea Turtles for you to read and learn about. Enjoy!

Biologists say: “They’re all turtles!”. ‘Turtle’ is the umbrella term for all 200 types of turtles, tortoises, and terrapins. Turtles are great swimmers. Aquatic turtles, like musk turtles, have webbed feet and live in lakes and swampy ponds. Marine (sea) turtles are found in oceans and have flippers.

A sea turtle is a reptile from the Chelonian family. Sometimes they are called Marine Turtles. There are “7 species of sea turtles” throughout the entire world are the ‘Green Sea Turtle’, ‘Loggerhead Sea Turtle’, ‘Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle’, ‘Olive Ridley Sea Turtle’, ‘Hawksbill Sea Turtle’, ‘Flatback Sea Turtle’, and ‘Leatherback Sea Turtle’.

All the six sea turtle are found in every ocean except the Arctic and Antarctic. The seventh, the flatback sea turtle, lives only in the waters around Australia.

Sea Turtles belong to one of the oldest reptile groups in the world. It is a more ancient group than snakes, crocodiles and alligators. There are more than 300 species of turtle throughout the world.

Marine turtles can migrate incredibly long distances. The longest known swim is for a female leatherback turtle. She covered nearly 21,000 kilometres over 647 days from Indonesia to the west coast of America. That’s over 30 kilometres a day!

Green sea turtles are the largest hard-shelled marine turtle in the world and can grow to 5 feet and weigh up to 500 lbs.

These creatures date back to the time of the dinosaurs, over 200 million years ago.

Turtles are easily recognised by their bony, cartilaginous shell. This super-tough casing acts like a shield to protect them from predators – some turtles can even tuck their head up inside their shell for extra protection!

When sea turtles sleep, they can slow their heart rate down to 4 beats per minute to conserve oxygen. They like to hide amongst rock while they sleep.

Male turtles always live in the ocean. They never come out of the ocean while females visit ashore to lay their eggs on sandy beaches during the nesting season. Females lay between two and six clutches of eggs and each contains 70 to 180 eggs.

Just like your bones, a turtle’s shell is actually part of its skeleton. It’s made up of over 50 bones which include the turtle’s rib cage and spine.

Contrary to popular belief, a turtle cannot come out of its shell. The turtle’s shell grows with them, so it’s impossible for them to grow too big for it!

The gender of the Sea turtle is determined by the Sand temperature. Cold temperatures produce male hatchlings while warmer incubation temperatures produce female hatchlings. If the temperature fluctuates between the two extremes, then the mix of male and female hatchlings will be produced.

Turtles don’t have outer ears but they do have ears and can still perceive some sounds and vibrations to some extent. Their vision is much better than their hearing.

The Alligator Snapping Turtle and is the most dangerous turtle in the world. They are carnivores. To get their food, they keep their mouths open and lie down on the bottom of a riverbed. Then, they shake their tongues looking like insects, which attract the fish to come into their mouths!

What a turtle eats depends on the environment it lives in. Land-dwelling turtles will munch on beetles, fruit and grass, whereas sea dwellers will gobble everything from algae to squid and jellyfish.

The Swinhoe’s softshell turtle is the world’s rarest turtle in the world. It is also known as the Yangtze giant softshell turtle discovered in Vietnam is the world’s rarest turtle in the world. It is also known as the Yangtze giant softshell turtle discovered in Vietnam

Some turtles are carnivores (meat eaters), others are herbivores (plant eaters) and some are omnivores (a mixture of the two!). Many baby turtles start life as carnivores but grow to eat more plants as they mature.

Turtles are ‘amniotes,’ they breathe air and lay their eggs on land, although many species live in or around water.

Turtles don’t have teeth. Many are born with a special tooth called a “caruncle” or “egg tooth” that helps them get out of their shell when they are ready to hatch.

These cold-blooded creatures have an incredibly long life span. The oldest ever recorded, named Tu”i Malila, of Tonga Island, passed away at the grand old age of 188!

Sea turtles make their nest above the high tide line to prevent the nest from flooding and the sand surrounding the next becoming too wet and compact. The nest needs to have air pockets that provide oxygen.

It is estimated that only 1,000 sea turtle hatchlings survive to adulthood, which takes up to 50 years for them to reach it.

Sea turtles will return to the area where they were born to mate. However, it can take 15 to 50 years to make this return

Sadly, many species of turtle are endangered! 129 of approximately 300 species of turtle and tortoise on Earth today are either vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered, according to the IUCN. Threats include loss of habitat, pollution, poaching and the illegal pet trade.

There are six out of seven species of sea turtles that are either threatened or endangered that’s at the hands of humans. They are Hawskbill and Kemp Ridley who are critically endangered, the Green Sea Turtle are endangered, whilst Letterback, Olive Ridley, and Loggerhead are threatened

All around the world their are many charities and organizations working tirelessly to save these sea turtles from becoming extinct. You to can help these beautiful creatures whether its donating to one the many charities there are, or by adopting them. Every penny counts, but its not just about the money there is so much you can do to help like stop polluting the water. Find out what you can do to help these sea turtles from becoming extinct.

Thank you for stopping by my blog today, and taking the time to read this week’s post. Enjoy the rest of your day and have an awesome week. Bye for now.

World Sea Turtle Day Pt 1

Hi everyone, hope you all had a good week. The sun has been shining down on us, and we are expecting it to get even hotter, so make sure you top up on the suntan lotion and stay safe and hydrated.

Also, this Sunday is Father’s Day, a day that gives you the chance to make a fuss of them and to show all the fathers in the world, how much they mean to you. I may not have mine here with me anymore, but he will forever be in my heart and thoughts on days like this. He may not have been my biological one, but that makes him even more special, he was one of a kind and whom I will miss always. So, treasure the time you have with the ones that really earned the title of becoming your father or stepfather.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there, for some this will be the first of many fathers’ days to celebrate. Enjoy!

World Sea Turtle Day is not only to honour and celebrate Sea Turtles, but it is also to raise awareness for them too. Its to highlight their significance of them and show you their importance. These reptiles are no different from other species. They are not only beautiful and majestic creatures, but they are extraordinary and spectacular in their own unique way.

Sea turtles are a type of species that has an incredible amount of resilience and perseverance, well they have been nesting along the beaches for a very long time, long before humans inhabited and dinosaurs roamed the earth, as they first originated about 230 million years ago during the Triassic period. So, I think they have earned their own special day. Here are some interesting facts about these incredible reptiles.

Did You Know?

Sea turtles belong to the Testudines order which includes all turtles, tortoises, and terrapins. There are fourteen families within the order, but sea turtle species are only represented in two of those families Cheloniidae and Dermatochelyidae where the seven modern sea turtle species are found.

Turtles are pretty fast in the water! Their body is streamlined. They use their front flippers for propulsion and their rear flippers for steering.

Sea turtles are flatter than other turtles so they can swim better. They also have flippers instead of legs. Although sea turtles have softer shells, these shells are tough enough to protect them from the sharks.

All turtles have good senses of touch, smell, hearing, and eyesight. But they have some advanced “instincts” that make them so special. One good example of this is the innate behaviour that helps baby sea turtles reach the ocean.

Sea turtles are one of Earth’s oldest creatures. The 7 species have been around for 230 million years! Making them older than dinosaurs.

Leatherback sea turtles can grow to be larger than a human. As the ocean’s largest turtles, they can grow up to eight feet (2.4 meters) long and weigh over 1,500 pounds (700 kilograms). Amazingly, Wales holds the world record for the largest marine turtle ever found: In 1988 a leatherback turtle came ashore measuring 2.5 metres and weighing over 900 kilos!

They usually stay in calm, shallow areas. They are found in lagoons, bays, estuaries, and coastal waters. Sea turtles also enjoy burying themselves in sand or mud.

Scientists think that their amazing ability to navigate comes from their sensitivity to the earth’s magnetic fields.

Sea turtles’ hard shells are known as their carapace. The shell is attached to their skeleton, it is made of several bony plates. The plates fit together like a puzzle.

Like other reptiles, turtles are cold-blooded. This means that their body temperature changes based on how warm or cold it is outside. They live in many different habitats across the world, including coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangrove swamps.

Approx. 5000,000 Sea turtles are caught from bycatch every year.

Starting in May, female sea turtles begin laying their eggs on North Carolina beaches. Each nest, or clutch, contains approximately 120 eggs the size of a ping pong ball. The female digs a chamber in the sand about 1-2 feet below the surface and once the eggs are deposited, she covers them up with sand.

Sea turtles often drown when caught in fishing gear. Coastal development can destroy important nesting sites, impact coral reefs, and artificial light from houses and other buildings attracts hatchlings away from the ocean.

Sea turtles live around 40-80 years, the oldest species recorded was 188 years old.

Male sea turtles never leave the sea but females occasionally visit the beach. When it’s time to lay their eggs, females return to the same beach they hatched on! It’s there that they bury their eggs in sandy nests.

Most sea turtles have the ability to dive to close to 1,000 feet. If you look at leatherbacks, you see a species that can dive beyond 3,000 feet. The deepest recorded sea turtle dive was a leatherback at close to 4,000 feet beneath the surface.

Sea turtles are considered peace-makers in Native North American traditions. They live in harmony with others.

Sea turtle sex is determined by the temperature of the nest, rather than by chromosomes. The higher the temperature is (88 F or over) produce more female hatchlings, while cooler nests (under 82F) produce more males.

Most sea turtle species live in South Asia and North America but they can be found all over the world except in cold climates. Sea turtles spend almost their entire life in the water. Female turtles leave the ocean when laying eggs.

It is estimated that only one out of 1,000 hatchlings survive to be an adult.

Sea turtles stay calm during a disturbance. It is said that a green sea turtle guided the first Polynesian settlers to Hawaii. Since then sea turtles have been symbols of a guided path to safety for those on a journey.

Some sea turtles migrate exceptionally long distances, while others stay close to home. Leatherbacks and loggerheads can travel thousands of miles each year, while greens, olive and ridleys have shorter migrations, while hawksbills rarely leave a small area.

The Kemp’s ridley is around 70 cm long and weighs up to 40 kilos, making it the smallest turtle. It appears tiny when compared to the leatherback.

A Sea turtle that lives In North America looks as if it’s dressed up as a dinosaur. The scary-looking alligator snapping turtle is one of the largest freshwater turtles in the world. It has a spiked shell and thick, scaled tail, it is anything but picky with its food. It eats vegetation, fish, small mammals, and even other turtles!

There are a lot of sea turtles that can submerge themselves for an incredible amount of time and can hold their breath for more than five hours. This gives them the ability to dive deep under the ocean.

Sea turtles are reptiles that live in the sea, that are protected by their hard shells.

Marine turtles can migrate incredibly long distances. The longest known swim is for a female leatherback turtle. She covered almost 21,000 kilometres over 647 days from Indonesia to the west coast of America. That’s over 30 kilometres a day!

All seven species are considered threatened or endangered. Two are critically endangered (hawksbill and Kemp’s ridley), one is endangered (green and three are threatened (leatherback, olive ridley, and loggerhead). Flatbacks are listed as data deficient on the IUCN Red List but are listed as endangered in Australia.

In Chinese and Japanese mythologies, sea turtles are thought to possess ancient wisdom.

Marine turtles are particularly at risk of extinction. Only one in around 1,000 babies survive. Many turtle adults and babies are caught in fishing nets and many others mistake plastic for jellyfish and eat it.

Sea turtles have a varied diet. Depending on the species, they might eat jellyfish, barnacles, squid, sponges, or seaweed, among other things. Eating mostly seagrasses and algae, green sea turtles are herbivores, and their diet is what gives them their greenish colour, while hawksbills eat primarily sea sponges.

Sea turtles take vast journeys in the oceans, always returning to the nesting ground where they were hatched. For Leatherback turtles that can mean a journey of more than 10,000 miles each year.

Pollution like plastic bags is often mistaken for food such as jellyfish and ingested, which blocks their intestines and potentially kills them. In some countries, they are hunted for their meat and shells and their eggs are eaten.

• Leatherback Sea Turtle (Dermochelys choriacea)
• Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas)
• Hawksbill Sea Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata)
• Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta)
• Olive Ridley Sea Turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea)
• Kemp’s Ridley (Lepidochelys kempii)
• Flatback Sea Turtle (Natator depressus)

If You Want to Donate, Click A Link Below

WWF: Donate or Adopt a Sea Turtle

Ecology Project International: Every. Single. Egg.

SEE Turtles: Donate to Save Sea Turtles

There are organizations all around the world that are working hard and so tirelessly to save these Sea turtles, but we as mankind need to do more to help save these amazing creatures from dying. We need to preserve all animals, whether on land or in the ocean because I for one can’t imagine a world without any kind of animal in it, but one day that could happen if we don’t protect them now.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Enjoy the rest of your day, and I will see you next week. Bye for now.