LEATHERBACK TURTLE
Scientific : Dermochelys Coriacea
Leatherback turtle is the largest and
the oldest of all sea
turtle species in the world. It has been around for more than 150 million years.
The leatherback gets its name from its shell,
which is
like a thick leathery skin,
with the texture of hard rubber with seven longitudinal ridges. The carapace
is black with
white pale spots. The leatherback turtle ranges in size from 1.2 meters
to 2.4 meters in length and weighs between 225 kg to 900
kg. They can dive to depths of 1,280 meters; deeper than any other
turtle and can stay down for up to 85 minutes. Leatherbacks feed primarily on soft
bodied animals like jellyfish, sea urchins, squid, mollusks, crustaceans,
tunicates, fish, blue-green algae, floating seaweed other marine creatures.
They don’t have teeth, instead possessing spines throughout their throats which stop prey from escaping after being eaten.
Female leatherbacks may lay 4 to 5 times per season,
each time depositing 60 to 120 eggs. Leatherbacks appear to
nest once every two or three years with an incubation period
of approximately 60 days.
GREEN SEA TURTLE
Scientific: Chelonia Mydas
They are called green turtles because of the
color of the flesh. Chelonia
mydas are one of the largest turtles, ranging 1.5 meters in
length and they can weigh up to 200 kg. They have limbs that are paddle-like, which are used to swim. Their
heads seem small compared to their body size. Males are larger than females and
the tail is longer, extending well beyond the shell. The carapace can be olive
to brown, or sometimes black, depending on the geographic location of the
species. Green turtles cannot pull their heads inside of their shells.
Image Credit
Adult green turtles is almost exclusively herbivorous.
They eat only seagrasses, algae and marine invertebrates.
This diet is thought to give them greenish colored fat.
Green turtles nest at intervals of about every 2 years,
with wide year to year fluctuations in numbers if nesting
females. They nest between 3 to 5 times each season.
They lay an average of 115 eggs in each nest.
The incubation period
lasts 50 to 70 days.
(Scientific : Eretmochelys Imbricata)
The Hawksbill is one of the smaller sea turtles. Hawksbills
get their common name from their tapered heads, which end in a sharp point
resembling a bird's beak. The shape of the mouth allows the hawksbill
turtle to reach into holes and crevices of coral reefs to find sponges, their
primary food source as adults, and other invertebrates.
Color is a dark greenish
brown with a marbled or radiating pattern.
The plastron is yellow and
hinge-less. The head scales are black to chestnut brown in the center, with
lighter margins. The chin and throat are yellow. Adults have an olive green or
brown carapace(upper shell) with reddish brown, brown or black markings in a
tortoiseshell pattern.
Hawksbills grow up to
about 114 centimeter in in carapace length and
45kg -
70 kg in weight for an average adult, but can grow as large
as
90 kg
They are normally found
near reefs rich in the sponges they like to feed on. Hawksbills are omnivorous
and will also eat mollusks, marine algae, crustaceans, sea urchins, fish, and
jellyfish.
Olive Ridley Turtle
Scientific : Lepidochelys Olivacea
The Olive Ridley Turtle spends most of its time within 15 km of shore, preferring shallow seas for is feeding and sunbathing. However this species is observed in the open ocean as well
A small sea turtle with a
round, flat carapace length averaging 60 to 70 cm. With
large, triangular head, and an olive to grayish green carapace. The skin
is gray, and the plastron is light greenish yellow or whitish. There are two
pairs of prefrontals, and usually 5 - 9 costal shields on the sides, the first
pair coming into contact with the nuchal. Males have longer thicker tails than
females and well developed curved claws on the forelimbs.
Adults Olive Ridleys weigh ranged from 35
to 50 kg.
Olive ridley sea turtles are strong divers, and have been known to dive up to 150 meters in search of crabs, sea urchins and other bottom-dwelling creatures. They also roam widely in the open ocean in search of sea jellies.
Many females reproduce every year, but some nest every 2 - 3 years, usually from
1 - 2 times per season, every 14 - 30 days.
Nesting occurs mostly at night, but diurnal nesting also occurs. A female crawls onto the nesting beach, scoops a body pit, then digs a nest and lays a clutch of
30 - 170 eggs, which she covers with sand before crawling back into the ocean. The whole procedure takes less than an hour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY29SNy0Y9Y
TURTLE NESTING SEASON
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