INTERNESTING HABITATSįemales stay near their nesting beach during the nesting season, which can last one to two months.ĭepending on the species, female turtles lay between two and seven clutches (a group of eggs deposited during one egg-laying event), in a season – one clutch every 10 to 15 days. Once males have mated and are unsuccessful in finding more mates, they return to their feeding areas. Males will try to mate with as many females as they can during a season. Like females, male turtles show natal homing, but visit broader areas and more sites than females do. Males are quite aggressive during the mating season, both with other males and with females. This is most likely due to the fact that male sea turtles generally attempt to mate with as many females as possible. MATING IN COASTAL AREAS NEAR NESTING BEACHES:Īlthough a female typically only need mate with one male to obtain enough sperm to fertilize all of her eggs in a season, multiple paternity is common in sea turtles. The return migration by an adult turtle to the beach of its birth is called natal homing. The distance between feeding and breeding areas can be hundreds, to tens of thousands, of kilometers.Įach nesting season, most females return to nest at the same beach, or group of beaches, from which they themselves emerged as hatchlings. MIGRATION OF ADULTS TO NATAL BEACHES FOR MATINGĪfter acquiring sufficient resources, adult males and females migrate to breeding areas to mate and, in the case of females, to nest. This period typically takes more than a year, and in many cases, several years. Adult turtles remain in these areas until they have accumulated sufficient energy reserves to migrate to breeding areas for reproduction. Thus, young turtles wait to enter these areas until they have attained a larger body size, which helps them avoid being eaten.Īdult turtles also occupy neritic feeding areas. While these foraging grounds tend to offer a greater abundance and variety of food than the open ocean, they also tend to host more predators. DEVELOPMENTAL MIGRATIONS TO NERITIC FEEDING AREASĪfter this oceanic period, the juvenile turtles move into highly productive neritic (near shore) feeding areas to finish growing, a process that can take as little as a few years and as long as a few decades. Leatherbacks are the only species that spend the majority of their life in this oceanic environment flatbacks are the only species that lack this open ocean stage entirely. This oceanic stage can last from a few years to decades.

Little turtles are transported by strong ocean currents to open-ocean (oceanic) habitats, where they live in flotsam, such as Sargassum mats (brown algae), and have an omnivorous diet. Hatchlings generally wait until night to head for the ocean, when they can use the cover of darkness to avoid detection by many predators on the beach and in the water.Īfter reaching the water, hatchlings enter into a multi-day 'swimming frenzy,' during which they swim almost continuously, fueled only by leftover egg yolk, to reach deeper water away from shore. When fully developed, hatchlings break through their eggshell and slowly dig their way to the surface, typically en masse. HATCHLINGS TO OCEAN AND EARLY YEARS IN OPEN OCEAN HABITAT

Other adults (females and males) and large juveniles also feed in these areas. ADULT FEMALES RETURN TO FEEDING AREAS AFTER NESTING SEASONĭepending on the distance, this migration may take several months.įemales must return to feeding areas – generally nearshore (neritic) areas – after each nesting season to replenish her energy stores for the next reproductive season. After refilling and covering their nests with sand, they return to sea. NESTING BEACHES: ADULT FEMALEĭuring nesting season, females come ashore to lay eggs within a few weeks of mating.Īfter making their way above the high-tide line, they use their front flippers to dig a large depression called a “body pit,” using such force that they send sand flying through the air.įemales then use their back flippers to dig a smaller hole at the far end of the body pit called an “egg chamber,” into which they deposit between 50-200 soft-shelled eggs, depending on the species.

The following text describes the various stages in sea turtles lifecycles and corresponds to the lifecycle diagram above.

Seaturtle teeth