Learning About The
Endangered Sea Turtle

These gracious majestic, gentle giant animals are ancient reptiles, that have been in the Earth's oceans for 150 million of years. Though they are air-breathing vertebrate reptiles, they spend virtually their entire lives at sea. After they hatch from eggs laid on beaches, only the females will ever come out of the water again, to lay her eggs.

Scientific Classification

Each Sea Turtle has both a scientific and a common name. The scientific name identifies the genus and species. The common name typically describes some characteristic of the turtle's body:

• The loggerhead gets its name from its exceptionally large head.
• The hawksbill turtle gets its name because its narrow head and large beak make it look like a hawk.
• The Australian flatback gets its name because its shell is very flat.
• The leatherback gets its name because its shell is made of a layer of thin, tough, rubbery skin that looks like leather. It is the only sea turtle without a hard shell.
• The black turtle gets its name from the color of its shell. Its shell is gray or black.
• The Olive ridley has an olive green shell.
• The green turtle gets its name from the green color of the fat under its shell.
• The Kemp's ridley gets its first name "Kemp's", from the man that helped discover the turtle (Richard Kemp).

Five, of the eight living species of Marine Turtles are found off the Atlantic & Gulf Coasts of the United States. These are:

Although each species of SEA TURTLE looks and behaves distinctly, they do have several common characteristics. The main common physical characteristics of Sea Turtles are:

• Sea Turtles are fast, graceful animals in the sea.
• They can't pull their heads or flippers into their shells, like other land turtles do.
• They are large, air breathing reptiles.
• They have streamlined bodies and large flippers.
• Their shells consist of an upper part (carapace) and a lower section (plastron).
• All except the leatherback, are covered by hard scales (scutes). The number and arrangement of these scutes can be used to dtermine the species.
• They do not have teeth. Their jaws have modified beaks suited to their particular diets.
• They do not have visible ears but have eardrums covered by skin. They hear best at low frequencies.
• They have an excellent sense of smell.
• They have good underwater vision, but are nearsighted out of the water
• Like all reptiles, sea turtles lay eggs. They can lay up to 100 eggs in each nest.
• Only females come ashore, and that is to nest. Males rarely return to land after they crawl into the sea as hatchlings.
• Hatchling is one of the most dangerous times in a sea turtle's life. Young turtles must pass through hungry predators before they crawl across the sand and reach the safety of the ocean.
• Hatchlings find the sea by heading towards the light, as the ocean is the brightest source of light at night.