What class are turtles in?
Reptilia - includes snakes, crocodiles and lizards
What order are marine turtles in?
Testudines - first specimens date back 220 million years
What are the families of turtle species?
Cheloniidae (Six of the seven turtle species are in this family
Demochelyidae - Leatherback Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)
What is the importance of turtles to the ecosystem?
- Eat - Turtles are thought spend a lot of time eating, with different species controlling the population of different plants and animals
- Hawksbill - sponges
- Green sea turtles - sea grass
- Leatherback - Jellyfish - Prey - Juveniles are preyed upon by air, land and sea. Adults are only really preyed upon by the largest sharks and they are mainly scavenged when dying or dead.
- Poop - turtles move nutrients from the open ocean to coastal habitats
How do Sea Turtles mate?
- In the ocean, males may court a female by nuzzling her head or gently biting the back of her neck and rear flippers.
- If she doesn’t flee the male will attach himself to the back of her shell using his claws in his front flippers
- He folds his long tail under her shell to copulate
- This can occur on the surface or underwater
When do Sea turtles mate?
Thought to occur in a limited “receptive” period prior to the females first nesting emergence
What is competition like between male Sea Turtles mating?
Males have been observed to compete, fighting each other.
What may be a factor that helps keep genetic diversity high in the sea turtle populations?
The females can store sperm from several males prior to nesting season
Do male sea turtles go back to land?
Only females come ashore to nest; males almost never return to land
Where do females go to nest?
Females will travel back to the beach where they were born to create their nests
What is the nesting process for Sea turtles?
Females will emerge from the water under the cover of darkness and chose their nesting spot.
- Incubation takes around 60 days and the surrounding temperature determines the sex of the juveniles born
- The hatchlings emerge from the nest and make their way to the ocean, usually at nightfall to increase survival chances.
What temperature leads to which sex for Sea Turtles?
Hot chicks: Cool dudes
How to juveniles find there way to the water once they hatch?
Hatchlings orientate themselves by using moonlight reflecting off the ocean
What is the survival rate of juvenile sea turtles?
1 in 1000 sea turtles make it into adulthood due to to natural predation alongside anthropogenic pressures
What is the protection for Sea Turtles in Indonesia?
Indonesia has fully protected sea turtles within its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covering nearly 6 million square kilometres
What are threats to sea turtles in Indonesia?
- The fishing, sale and consumption of sea turtle meat in Indonesia is illegal, however illegal poaching does occur.
- fisheries bycatch, coastal development, chemical and plastic pollution and other anthropogenic pressures.
Can the sex of individual turtles be determined?
- It can be incredibly difficult to determine the sex due to how immature turtles can display sexual dimorphism
- Therefore the rule is its either a male, or its unknown.
How can male sea turtles be identified?
- Tail is substantial and strong looking
- Tail extends beyond back flippers
- Claws visible on front flippers
What is the scientific name for the loggerhead turtle?
- Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758)
What is the maximum size of a loggerhead turtle?
- Up to 1.2 meters (Carapace length)
Where would you find loggerhead turtles?
Coastal reefs, rocky areas & lagoons
Do you find loggerhead turtles in groups or solitary?
- Solitary
What is the appearance of loggerhead turtles?
- Dorsal pattern in adults is constant
- Easily recognised by reddish-brown colouration
- Head and neck both large and broad
- Fore flippers relatively short and thick, each with 2 visible claws on the anterior margin
- Rear flippers with 2 or 3 claws
What is the distinguishing feature of the loggerhead turtle?
Fat neck and scutes
