Watching a baby turtle (known as a "hatchling") struggle out of the nest and make its way to the water is an emotional experience. Everything from footprints to driftwood and crabs are obstacles, though this gauntlet is important for its survival.
Here are 10 amazing facts about Baby Sea Turtles
1- Birds, raccoons, and fish
are just a few of the predators these vulnerable creatures face; some experts
say only one out of a thousand will survive to adulthood under natural
conditions.
2- After an adult female sea turtle nests, she returns to the sea,
leaving her nest and the eggs within it to develop on their own. The amount of
time the egg takes to hatch varies among the different species and is
influenced by environmental conditions such as the temperature of the sand. The
hatchlings do not have sex chromosomes so their gender is determined by the temperature
within the nest.
3- Sea turtle hatchlings eat a variety of prey including things
like mollusks and crustaceans, hydrozoans, sargassum sea weed, jellyfish, and
fish eggs. Unfortunately, hatchlings also mistake garbage and objects like tar
balls as food and ingest them.
4- Leatherback and flatback
hatchlings are significantly larger than other sea turtle species.Leatherbacks
are pelagic (open water) even as hatchlings and their larger size helps
maintain their temperature.
5- Hatchlings use the natural light horizon, which is usually over
the ocean, along with the white crests of the waves to reach the water when
they emerge from the nest. Any other light sources such as beachfront lighting,
street lights, light from cars, campfires etc. can lead hatchlings in the wrong
direction, also known as disorientation.
6- Once out of the nest, hatchlings face many predators including
ghost crabs, birds, raccoons, dogs, and fish. It's estimated that only 1 in
1,000 hatchlings will survive to adulthood.
7- Many scientists are concerned that rising global temperatures
will result in warmer sand, causing more female than male baby turtles. Whether
hatchlings are male or female depends on the temperature where they are in the
nest, known as the “pivotal temperature." The temperature varies slightly
among species, ranging between roughly 83-85 degrees Fahrenheit (28-29 degrees
Celsius), at which embryos within a nest develop into a mix of males and
females. Temperatures above this range produce females and colder temperatures
produce males.
8- After 45 to 70 days (depending on the species), the hatchlings
begin to pip, or break out of their eggs, using a small temporary tooth located
on their snout called a caruncle. Once out of their eggs, they will remain in
the nest for a number of days. During this time they will absorb their yolk,
which is attached by an umbilical to their abdomen. This yolk will provide them
the much-needed energy for their first few days while they make their way from
the nest to offshore waters.
9- The hatchlings begin their climb out of the nest in a coordinated
effort. Once near the surface, they will often remain there until the
temperature of the sand cools, usually indicating nighttime, when they are less
likely to be eaten by predators or overheat. Once the baby turtles emerge from
the nest, they use cues to find the water including the slope of the beach, the
white crests of the waves, and the natural light of the ocean horizon.
10-If the hatchlings successfully make it down the beach and reach
the surf, they begin what is called a “swimming frenzy” which may last for
several days and varies in intensity and duration among species. The swimming
frenzy gets the hatchlings away from dangerous nearshore waters where predation
is high. Once hatchlings enter the water, their "lost years" begin and
their whereabouts will be unknown for as long as a decade. When they have
reached approximately the size of a dinner plate, the juvenile
turtles will return to coastal areas where
they will forage and continue to mature.
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