Sea+Turtles

 **•Sea Turtles•** **Sea turtles are large turtles that live in warm waters. You can find sea turtles by the Meditteranean coast and the Carribean Coast. (1)**        **~Male or Female~**  How can you tell if your turtle is male or female? Males have longer nails in the front. These long nails help the male hold on to the female better, while mating. Sea turtles normally mate a few weeks before nesting seaseon. A female can mate with more than one male. Female turtles lay their eggs during the summer months, which is only a few weeks after mating. Female turtles normally spend an hour or two on shore for the eggs. They lay between one and nine times in a season. (2)

Sea turtles are very old. They can live to be over 100 years old. Through the years scientists have discovered more and more turtles. Different turtles eat different things. Some turtles eat sea weed while other turtles eat crab meat, or any other type of meat they can get. (3)  <span style="display: block; font-size: 120%; color: #00ff05; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; text-align: center;">**~Charectoristics~**

Turtles usually have 1-2 claws on the front. The hind flippers serve as paddles to swim. The back flippers are used to help with nesting. A sea turtle can not retract its flippers or arms under it's shell like regular turtles. Sea turtles also have large upper-eye lids. They help protect a turtle's eyes. Sea turtles have lack of teeth. Their jaw shape depends on the species and it's diet. The top side of a turtle's shell is called the //carapace//.The bottom is called the //plastron//. Depending on the species, the //carapace// may be heart or oval shaped. In all //plastrons,//besides the ones on leatherback turtles, there are horny plates called scutes.Scutes are firm, flexible, and not brittle. A turtle can be identified by the number or pattern of the scutes. (4)



<span style="color: #05ff00; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-size: 130%; color: #21fd2f; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; text-align: center;">~**Leatherback Turtles~**

<span style="display: block; color: #16f104; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; text-align: center;">Leatherback turtles eat in the upper layers of water at night.The later the day gets, the brighter the sun. The jellyfish swim deeper into the water to get away from the light. The turtles follow the jellyfish to feed. The Leatherback turtle is the largest of all turtles.The largest Leatherback that they have found is said to be 2,019 pounds. Mature Leatherback turtles can reach around 3.9-6.2 ft. (5) <span style="display: block; font-size: 25px; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive; text-align: left;">

<span style="display: block; font-size: 80%; color: #36ff00; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="display: block; font-size: 110%; color: #39fe1b; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; text-align: center;">**~Turtle Senses~** <span style="display: block; font-size: 120%; color: #0ff702; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-size: 80%; color: #1cff00; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="display: block; font-size: 110%; color: #39fe1b; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="display: block; font-size: 120%; color: #0ff702; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; text-align: center;">**Hearing- Sea turtles have 1 bone in their ear. Scientists say that they can hear low frequency sounds and vibrations.

Eyesight-**  <span style="display: block; font-size: 110%; color: #39fe1b; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; text-align: center;"> **Turtles see well in water, but not well on land.

Touch- A turtle's flippers and shell are sensitive.

Taste- Scientist do not know very much about turtle's taste.

Smell- Turtle's have acute smell under water. Their acute smell helps them find food in murky waters.

Extra Fact- Scientists believe that after turtle have hatched, they go to the water because they smell shrimp.(6)**

<span style="display: block; color: #25ff00; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; text-align: center;">Sea turtles have many predators, just like all of the other animals and reptiles, but the biggest rate of death occurs before turtle eggs even hatch. Animals such as dogs, fish, birds, raccoons, and ghost crabs like to eat the egg before it hatches. 90% of the worlds turtles are killed before birth. Lizards, dingos, and foxes like to prey on flatback sea turtles. Adult sea turtles have few predators. Humans are also a big cause of death to turtles. We are taking over their beaches, and nesting areas. We are also huntin turtles, and collecting their eggs illegally.(8) DON'T HUNT TURTLES! TAKE CARE OF THE OCEANS! HELP THE TURTLES!





<span style="display: block; font-size: 120%; color: #42fd12; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; text-align: center;">~Turtle History and Fossil Recordings~ <span style="display: block; font-size: 90%; color: #45f924; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; text-align: center;">The first turtles appeared 208 to 245 million years ago, during the triassic period. The earliest known sea turtles appear in the fossil record in the Late Jurassic period, 144 to 208 million years ago. Scientists believe that modern sea turtles are derived from marsh-inhabiting ancestors that lived during the Late Triassic period. Scientists have fossil records of the largest turtle known to humans, Archelon Ischyros. This is now extinct, but it could grow to be 3 to 4 meters.(7)

<span style="color: #52ff00; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"> Sea turtles are usually solitary creatures that stick together for most of the time they are at sea, which makes them very difficult to study. They hardly ever interact with one another outside of courtship and mating. Ridleys, however, do come together in huge groups during nesting. But even when large numbers of turtles gather on feeding grounds or during migration, there is little behavioral among individuals. Because of the difficulty in studying marine turtles in the open ocean, there are a great many things still unknown about their behavior. Decades of research, however, including observations at sea, have produced useful insights into daily activities and behaviors such as courtship, mating and nesting.

References-- 1. __Sea Turtles.__ 2002. Bush Entertainment Corporation. 9 Feb. 2009 <http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/SeaTurtle/strepro.html>. 2. __Sea Turtles.__ 2002. Bush Entertainment Corporation. 8 Feb. 2009 <http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/SeaTurtle/strepro.html>. 3. __Sea Turtles.__ 2002. Bush Entertainment Corporation. 10 Feb. 2009 <http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/SeaTurtles/strepro.html>. 4.__Physical Charectoristics.__ 2002. Bush Entertainment Corporation. 12 Feb. 2009 <http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-books/sea-turtle/physical-characteristics.htm>. 5. __Behavior.__ 2002. Bush Entertainment Corporation. 10 Feb. 2009 <http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-sea-books/turtle/behavior.html>. 6. __Senses.__ 2002. Bush Entertainment Corporation. 16 Feb. 2009 <http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/SeaTurtle/stsenses.htm>. 7. __Scientific Classification.__ 2002. Bush Entertainment Corporation. 16 Feb. 2009 <http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/SeaTurtle/stclass.htm>. 8. __Longevity and Causes of Death.__ 2002. Bush Entertainment Corporation. 16 Feb. 2009. <http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/SeaTurtle/stlongevity.html>. 9. __General Behavior Paterns of Sea Turtles.__ 2008. Carribean Conservation Corporation. 16 Feb. 2009 <http://www.cccturtle.org/sea-turtle-information.php?page=behavior>.