For many beach lovers, the ocean provokes thoughts of family vacations, palm trees, and boating but what about the vast environments that lay beneath the waves? While mankind has only explored a mere five percent of the world’s oceans and countless numbers of aquatic creatures remain undiscovered, Loggerhead Sea Turtles stand out as being well-recognized. The turtle’s massive size and beautiful shell grab people’s attention, yet it is probably safe to say that many have no further knowledge about the existence of Loggerheads. From traveling the world to facing threats from human activity, Loggerhead Turtles experience long and fulfilling lives. For starters, one should be aware of the basic, physical traits of Loggerhead Turtles. Scientifically named Caretta caretta, Loggerhead Turtles earned the name from their oversized heads (said to be as strong as a log) and horny beaks, both of which are significantly thicker than those of other sea turtles. Strong beaks allow shellfish and other hard foods to …show more content…
Animals of all kinds adapt their living environments in search of food. Sea turtles reside in coastal tropical and subtropical water; ranging in the Atlantic Ocean from Argentina to Nova Scotia as well as barrier islands from North Carolina to the Florida Keys ("Loggerhead Sea Turtles, Caretta caretta"). Adult habitat includes rock ledges, near-shore reefs, and the mouths of inlets while hatchling habitat typically remains in warm ocean currents. As for feeding, Loggerheads rely on a carnivorous diet consisting of crustaceans, fish, jellyfish, and other marine animals. Hatchlings, on the other hand, feed on small animals such as algal mats called sargassum that live in the sea grass with the newborn turtles ("Loggerhead Sea Turtle." National Wildlife Federation). Hatchlings don’t stay young forever though, and they are quickly thrown into the “real world” after
The Loggerhead is an endangered species. Between 1997 and 2007, around 70% of their east coast yearly nesting population was lost as a result of shrimp trawling and development in nesting areas. The Loggerhead Turtles habitat in Gnaraloo is vital for their survival. The female loggerhead usually digs her nest at night. She digs her nest with her back flippers, about 18 inches beneath the surface. When she lays her eggs they fall to the bottom of the nest and pack together after she lays the eggs she tops off the nest with sand. The hatchlings will incubate for 60- 80 days. Loggerheads nest on ocean beaches, they lay their eggs, immediately after hatchlings emerge from the nest, they begin a period of frenzied activity. Hatchlings are primarily
Imperialism was one of the four contributing factors to the cause of World War One, along with secret alliances, militarism, and nationalism. It is the most important cause of WW1, because it created a build-up of tension in Europe and outside of Europe, and through imperialism, the three other causes were able to affect the beginnings of the war. Imperialism is defined as the governing of one people by another country, which was a recurring dilemma prior to WW1 due to the industrialist movement. Although not all events that fall into the imperialistic category were about controlling another country, they contributed to the war, and imperialistic events were the foundation of the cause of WW1.
The Graptemys caglei, also known as the Cagle’s Map Turtle, is an endangered turtle species found in San Antonio, Texas and along the Guadalupe River. It identifies easily by the pattern on its shell which resembles an aerial view topography, as well as its spiked shell edges, which are not as sharp as other map turtles of the same genus. Although the Cagle’s Map Turtle has natural predators pose a threat to the individual turtles’ lives, the predators are not a greater threat than habitat disturbances created by humans. Unfortunately, this species suffered a significant drop in population since the mid-1970 through changes in its habitat disallow support of a larger population of the turtles(van Dijk, P. P., 2011).
They are known for being active. They are known for being active because turtles are usually slow and it’s fun to watch them as they move and slide into the water and onto the rocks. Your turtle is going to move a lot when they get comfortable with their tank, so you won’t just see them not moving, they will always move. They will be hanging around the rocks you put in the tank with them because, to them rocks mean “comfortable” to them.
The green sea turtle occurs throughout tropical and subtropical oceans and is among the largest of the hard-shelled sea turtles growing to as much as 440 pounds and four feet in length. The breeding populations in Florida were listed as endangered in 1978 (43 FR 32800 32811, July 28, 1978) whereas all other populations were listed as threatened (NOAA 2015h). There is a proposal for identification of a North Atlantic green sea turtle distinct population that would be listed as threatened, continuing its current listing status near New York (80 FR 51763 51764, August 26, 2015). They are found in the shallow waters (except during migration) of shoals, bays, lagoons reefs, and inlets, often where submerged aquatic vegetation exists, from Maine south to Florida, and throughout the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea (USFWS 2015n, 2015o; NOAA 2015e). Green sea turtles nests are not present in New York; however, they occasionally are found stranded on or near the shore (NYSDEC 2015ad). Breeding takes places in subtropical to tropical oceans every two, three, or four years between June and September, with peak nesting in June and July (NOAA 2015h; USFWS 2015u). Hatching usually occurs at night, and many green sea turtle hatchlings seek refuge and food in masses of floating sea plants (USFWS
Some species may see increases from declines of loggerhead sea turtles. Loggerhead turtles are species generalists and compete with other carnivorous predators whose diets overlap with theirs (Bjorndal 2003). Juvenile loggerheads and Kemp’s ridleys in waters around Long Island have substantial diet overlap and a decline in loggerhead sea turtles may reduce the amount of competition for prey, allowing the Kemps ridleys access to more
The Loggerhead sea turtle prefers to feed in bays and estuaries. The problem with this is that these locations of the ocean are getting more and more polluted every day. The causes of this pollution problem are coastal development and more people wanting to live/ build on the coast and that disrupts the sea turtles
Like all turtle species, human predation and collecting is a serious danger to their survival: Loggerhead eggs and the turtles themselves, are sold on the black market for food and their shells are used to make items such as boat paddles and helmets in some places (Hawkes, 2016). The black market is an illegal shop were people sell things that are prohibited to sell (Hawkes, 2016). They usually held in secret places where no one knows (Hawkes, 2016). Around 65% of Loggerhead Turtles are killed each year because of the black market (Nobs, 2004). People kill these poor, harmless animals just for profit and it need to stop (Marine Bio, 2015). But there e actually is no way to stop black markets, you can reduce them but you can’t stop it. This is because black markets are an idea and once an idea is out, you can’t reverse it and take it back. (Holden, 2014). If you were to stop this, the government of every state would need to basically go round their whole city/state and check every corner where there may be a black market, because if nothing gets done we will loose our precious creatures (Queach,
The Blanding turtle are freshwater medium sized turtle usually found in The Great Lakes Regions in USA and in Canada. They are from the omnivorous species and usually eat crayfish, small animals, and plants. Their life histories traits occurs between April and November, as May and April tend to be more for mating and Early June for nesting. Less than half of these females will actually go on to reproducing. Many of these turtles can actually live up to sixty to a hundred years in age. Though these turtles spend a majority of time in the aquatics they also come on to the mainland. This is were the problem starts to occur and this is why the Blanding sea turtles are currently threatened and may soon be extinct. It is because of us humans that these species are currently facing habitat loss, have threatened nesting areas, and are unable to get from nesting areas to the lakes because of manmade roads. Why should we as humans care so much if these Blanding’s turtles go extinct? These turtles play an important
Located in La Rocha, Uruguay, Karumbé is a group of researchers, fishermen, conservationists and students who protect sea turtles and their habitats. They also accept volunteers, who help rehabilitate sick turtles. No experience necessary. The staff provides
Nesting habitat degradation is an anthropogenic threat to the loggerhead sea turtles. These threats include coastal development, erosion control barriers or beach armoring, artificial lighting, pollution, removal of native vegetation, and vehicle and pedestrian traffic (NMFS and USFWS 2007). Some solutions include protecting and managing turtles on nesting beaches, monitor coastal construction, implement lighting regulations, screen artificial lighting with vegetation, and impose regulations on beach armoring (NMFS and USFWS 1998). Predation is an important threat to consider in nesting areas for the loggerhead. Many places have depredation to protect the eggs and hatchlings against predators such as feral dogs, raccoons, and foxes (NMFS and USFWS 2007).
The seven different types of sea turtles live all around the world and play an important role in maintaining all the marine ecosystems they are a part of. The main part they do is maintain the health of seagrass beds and coral reefs which are home
Now, as most may know sea turtles are both marine and land animals depending on what stage of life they are in. Which means that they need to be able to go on land during certain stages of their lives. One of the main reasons why a sea turtle will go on to land is to lay their eggs. Within the last few years this has become harder and harder for the already endangered species. It
Sea turtle hatchlings are now having trouble finding their way to the sea because of all the lights from buildings that are built on the coast. They get disoriented when they are born and will wander in the wrong way away from the sea. This leads them to predators that live inland or will even cause the turtle to become dehydrated and die. Humans are also building coastal armoring that is blocking female turtles from reaching a suitable nesting habitat. This is a severe problem in Florida where they have many coastal rock elevations and sand bags. Where all this beach development is occurring thousands of sea turtles are trying to nest. Beach dredging is also having a direct effect on sea turtle's trying to nest. If the sand is too impacted or is drastically different from native beach sediment, the mother will have trouble creating the
Sea turtles have been a big help in maintaining the health of the world's ocean for more than 100 million years. They help by keeping up coral reefs all the way to transporting nutrients to beaches. Major changes have occurred in oceans everywhere due to the decline of the sea turtle population. Oceans are unhealthy because of this. It is time for us to protect the sea turtles and rebuild their population to ensure healthy oceans in the future. According to oceana.org, there are seven species of sea turtles that roam the world, six of which inhabit U.S. waters, and have been listed as either endangered, or threatened. Up until now, all six of these species are not at a healthy level despite protection measures from the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Some populations even continue to decline. Even at a diminished population, sea turtles play an important role in ecosystems. They are also extremely important to humans because they keep oceans healthy, and we use the ocean as a food source. They keep up the health of the ocean in many different ways, all of which, are very important.