Sea Turtles & How to Help!

I don't know about you, but I honestly find sea turtles to be so adorable! Unfortunately,these adorable creatures are both endangered and threatened by the hands of us humans. But before we get to that, let's learn more about sea turtles. 

Sea turtles have been around since the mesozoic age! The oldest sea turtle known to man is the desmatochelys padillai turtle. This turtle is said to have weighed 2,200kg and 400cm flipper to flipper! 

There are seven species of sea turtles: 

• Hawksbill
• Green
• Flatback
•  Loggerhead
• Kemp's ridley
• Olive ridley

Sea turtles are very sensitive to the earth's magnetic field and  geomagnetic abilities! So, they basically have a built in GPS system. 

They spend their whole life at sea, except the female sea turtles because they have to go to shore and lay eggs! Sea turtles lay between 100-150 eggs at a time and after 60 days of the turtle laying the eggs, the hatchlings will then emerge and make their way into the beautiful ocean! These creatures lay eggs every 2-5 years and you can determine the sex of the offspring by checking the temperature of the developing eggs. This process is called temperature-dependent sex determination.  If the temperature is above 88 Fahrenheit , then the hatchlings will be female and if the temperature is below 81.86 Fahrenheit, then the hatchlings will be male! If the temperature is between two of the above, then it means that it'll be a mix of both male and female. 

Each of these species of sea turtle have different types of diets. Some eat jelly fish, sponges, clams, crabs, sea grasses, lobsters and crustaceans. 

The anatomy of a sea turtle is quite amazing. The entire structural skeleton is made up of keratin, which is the same thing that is in human finger nails. The other shocking fact is that the sea turtle is unable to hide its head inside it's shell just like the land turtle can. 

Six out of seven species of sea turtle are in danger of being extinct due to the hands of humans. Just like other marine animals, sea turtles play a vital role in maintaining the health of the ocean. They do this by eating weak and diseased fish, controlling the distribution of sponges, transporting nutrients, and they help maintain the health of coral reefs and grass beds.  These creatures often mistake bottles and plastics for food which then causes their intestines to be blocked and eventually die. Some people poach and exploit them and there is a crazy amount of cases where they get trapped in fishing gear and die from it. 

Here are a few simple ways that you can help: 

     

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