Sea Turtle Writing

Sea turtles have been around since the late Jurassic period, 150 million years ago.  They evolved from the prehistoric turtles, Archelon and Henodus.

The female turtle climbs slowly up the beach, where she digs a hole in which she will lay, 50 - 200 leathery, ping-pong ball sized eggs.  

Finally after six weeks of sitting in the sand the eggs begin to hatch, emerging from the sand when they do. When they have hatched they are about the size of your palm.  20% do not hatch.  

Once they have crawled out of the sand, they wriggle frantically to the water. Along the way they meet dangers such as sea gulls, crabs, raccoons and other pitfalls.

Only 50% make it to the sea.

The 400 sea turtles that make it into sea have to face the powerful waves and  repelling currents.

Baby sea turtles often stay under the shelter of flotsam or seaweed floating on the surface.

Dolphins, fish and sharks will also find baby turtles a delicious meal. Meanwhile the small turtles mainly consist of squid and small fish.

The survivors will increase in size turning from the size of a dinner plate to the size of a dinner plate. The only true predators know are some of the larger shark species and the occasional killer whale.