Sea Turtles The best-known marine turtles are in the family that contains the green, loggerhead, hawksbill, and ridley turtles; the huge leatherback turtle is placed in a separate family.
The Leatherback Sea Turtle
The leatherback is the largest living turtle, sometimes exceeding 540 kg (1200 lb). The leatherback turtle is bigger than any other turtle on land or in the sea. The shell of the leatherback is made of small bones covered with a thick, rubbery skin. Leatherback turtles cannot pull their heads and feet into their shells to help protect them from their enemies. They have to swim very fast in order to get away when they are endangered. The mother leatherback turtles never see their babies. They lay their eggs at night in a pit in the sand. The leatherback mother lays about 100 eggs. After covering the eggs with sand she goes back into the sea. Every year there are fewer turtles in the sea. The leatherback is hunted for an oil that is made from its skin.
The Green Sea Turtle
Green Turtle, common name for a large sea turtle, named for the color of its fat, although the animal is brownish overall. It is the fastest swimming turtle, reaching speeds up to 32 km (20 mph). The green turtle is common in all warm seas and may sometimes be found, in summertime, along the North Atlantic coasts of the United States and Europe. Adults may reach a shell length of more than 1 m (more than 3 ft) and a body weight of more than 180 kg (more than 400 lb). Like other sea turtles, the green turtle has flipperlike forelimbs. It can be distinguished from other sea turtles in that it has a single pair of large plates lying on top of the head between the eyes, a relatively smooth shell lacking any ridges, and only four large, nonoverlapping plates on each side of the shell. The male never leaves the sea; the female leaves it only to lay her eggs. As many as 200 eggs are laid at night in sand above the reach of the sea. The young are hatched by the sun's heat and soon crawl into the sea. Green turtles are omnivorous but eat chiefly marine vegetation. They are prized by turtle hunters, their veallike meat being a table delicacy used in turtle soup and turtle steak; their eggs are also valued as food. Due to overhunting, the number of green turtles is rapidly decreasing. Scientific classification: The green turtle belongs to the family Cheloniidae. It is classified as Chelonia mydas. Sea turtles live mostly in warm waters around the world and are graceful swimmers, with limbs modified into long flippers that enable them to migrate long distances. The green turtle, for example, migrates from the coast of Brazil to breed on the small island of Ascension, some 3340 km (some 1400 mi) out in the Atlantic. When female sea turtles crawl above the tide line to bury their eggs, they and their large egg clutches are easy prey to shoreline predators and especially to human turtle hunters, who prize the meat and eggs of the green turtle. Also, because of diminishing nesting grounds due to shore development and the drowning of turtles in fishing trawls, the green turtle is close to extinction, and most species of sea turtles are endangered.
The Loggerhead Sea Turtles
The Loggerhead Sea Turtles, like all sea turtles begin their lives on land. The first journey the baby loggerhead turtles take is their journey from their nest in the sand on a beach to the ocean. The loggerhead has two front flippers that are long and flat, and smaller ones in the back. The loggerhead uses his stronger front flippers to pull his body through the sea, and the hind ones help in steering and stopping.
If you are lucky enough to be on the beaches of the West Coast of
Florida during May through October you will see wooden stakes with yellow ribbons.
These stakes are protecting the nests of the native loggerhead sea
turtles.
Down a few feet into the cool sand are a hundred or more sea turtle
eggs.
It will take aproximately 55 days for the eggs to crack open. Then the
group of little hatchlings will crawl out and make their way toward the ocean and begin their life.
In Clearwater, Florida, The Clearwater Marine Aquarium sea turtle
patrol monitors the nesting activities on Clearwater Beach, Sand Key,
Belleair Shore, Belleair Beach, Indian Shores, Indian Rocks Beach,
North Redington Beach, Redington Shores, Redington Beach, Madeira Beach, and Treasure Island.
The Clearwater Marine Aquarium sea turtle patrol is on the beaches at
5:00 a.m. every morning and back again of the evening to keep check on the nests.
When at the beaches you might see a sign that reads "Lights Out for Sea Turtles!"
The reason for the signs is because the sea turtles get confused when they see lights and may go toward the lights instead of going into the ocean. This is extremely dangerous for the sea turtles because they
can get run over by cars or die from dehydration if they do not get to the ocean.
The nesting season runs from May 1 To October 31st.
If you are visiting in Clearwater, Florida during turtle nesting season be sure to visit the Cleawater Marine Aquarium located at 249 Winward Passage in Clearwater.
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CLICK HERE:Remember out of 14,000 hatchlings only 20 will survive to be full size sea turtles. That is why we must do everything we can to protect the nests.
Check out Alix Berenzy(Illustrator), and Brenda Z. Guiberson's Into The Sea
Check out ARCHIE CARR'S The Sea Turtle: So Excellent a Fishe
Check out Sea Turtles
Check out Handbook of Turtles: The Turtles of the United States, Canada, and Baja California
Check out Peter L. Lutz'sThe Biology Of Sea Turtles
Check out Lola M. Schaefer and Neesa Becker's (Illustrator)
Turtle Nest
Check out Timothy Biel's Turtles
Check out John Coborn's Turtles Today
Check out Sylvia Funston, and Olena Kassian's (Illustrator)
Leatherback Turtle (Endangered Amimals Series
Check out Search for the Great Turtle Mother
Check out Karen A. Bjorndal's (Editor)Biology And Conservation Of Sea Turtles
Check out Gail Gibbon's (Illustrator)Sea Turtles
Check out Frank Staub'sSea Turtles (Early Bird Nature Books)
Check out Emilie U. Lepthien'sSea Turtles (True Book)
Check out Pamela Powell'sThe Turtle Watchers
Check out Marianne Johnston'sSea Turtles: Past and Present (Prehistoric Animals and Their Modern-Day Relatives)
Check out Follow The Moon by Sarah Weeks and Suzanne Duranceau (Illustrator)
A newborn sea turtle, whose instinct is to follow the moon to find the ocean, is drawn instead to a glittering mirrored ball in a dance club. He's rescued by a boy who protects the hatchling while it orients itself to the world. This ballad about friendship and a child's deep bond with nature sings of a small but significant moment of grace.
This nicely developed picture-book introduction to the loggerhead turtle sketches the life experiences of a typical female through text and broad acrylic views. The author exhibits a flair for alliteration and imagery in her descriptive narrative about this sea animal: "Just beneath the surface is a tangle of weed and driftwood where tiny creatures cling. This is the nursery of a sea turtle." Several pages follow the creature's early period and departure for the larger sea, and then the years of growth and travel are skimmed until her eventual return to the beach of her birth to lay her own eggs. On many pages curving lines of smaller type add bits of explanation, augmenting the story line. The double-spread paintings, occasionally alternating with smaller pictures set on aqua pages, focus on the turtle, with a few water plants suggesting underwater detail. A fine bed of blue crabs on which the turtle feasts is the only view of other animals sharing the ocean habitat until a concluding beach scenario where gulls and crabs threaten the newly hatched turtles who are starting the cycle anew. A very brief introduction identifies this turtle as a loggerhead. Gail Gibbons's Sea Turtles (Holiday, 1995) and Brenda Guiberson's Into the Sea (Holt, l995) offer young readers more information on this interesting animal. Broadly sketched in good language and pictures for read-aloud sharing, Davies's title will be enjoyed as a glimpse into the ways of the remarkable giant sea turtles.
Check out Lorraine A. Jay and Katie Lee's (Illustrator)Sea Turtle Journey: The Story Of A Loggerhead Turtle
A tiny loggerhead turtle hatches on the beach, rushes to the water, and makes her journey far out to sea, where she grows bigger and stronger in preparation for returning to the beach to lay her own eggs.
Check out Lorraine A. Jay and John McGee (Photographer)Sea Turtles
Children will discover many things about sea turtles like:
What's a caraspace?
How big is a hatchling?
What is a la arriba?
How many eggs are in a clutch?
And much more.......
Check out Paulette Bourgeois, and Brenda Clark's (Illustrator)FRANKLIN AND THE THUNDERSTORM A Children's Book
Check out Paulette Bourgeois, and Brenda Clark's (Illustrator) FRANKLIN FIBS A Children's Book
Check out Sheila MacGill-Callahan, and Barry Moser's (Illustrator)AND STILL THE TURTLE WATCHED (PICTURE PUFFINS) A Children's Book
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