Page 372 - (DK) Ocean - The Definitive Visual Guide

370 ANIMAL LIFE

ORDER CHELONIA Its color varies from green to dark their way to remote islands that may
brown, but its scales and shell plates be just a few miles across. They mate EARLY LIFE
Green Turtle (scutes) are lighter where they meet, in the shallows, and the females then
giving it a distinctive, checkered crawl ashore after dark to dig their After hatching while buried in
Chelonia mydas pattern. Like all marine turtles, it has nests and lay eggs. Green turtles lay up the sand, the young turtles use
LENGTH 2 / 2 –3 / 4 ft front flippers that are long and broad to 200 eggs, burying them about 30 in their front flippers to dig toward
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(0.8–1 m) and beat up and down like wings. (75 cm) beneath the sand. The eggs the surface. They then make a
WEIGHT 140–290 lb They provide the power for swimming, take about 6–8 weeks to hatch. All the dash for the sea, trying to avoid
(65–130 kg) while the much shorter rear flippers young emerge simultaneously and becoming a meal for waiting
HABITAT Open sea, coral act as stabilizers. Young green turtles scuttle for the safety of the waves. predators, including birds, crabs,
reefs, coasts are carnivorous, eating mollusks and The green turtle has been hunted snakes, and ants. Very little is
DISTRIBUTION Tropical and temperate waters other small animals, but the adults feed for centuries, mainly for food, and its known about their early life, as
worldwide mainly on eelgrass and algae—a diet numbers have declined significantly. young green turtles are rarely
that keeps them close to the coast. Conservation measures include observed in the wild, but it is
Elegantly marked and very effectively Green turtles breed on isolated protection of the turtles’ nest sites, certain that they face many
streamlined, this species is the most beaches, and they are remarkably so that the young have a better chance predators in the sea. Their growth
common turtle in subtropical and faithful to their nesting sites. To reach of reaching the sea. rate is known to average more
tropical waters, where it is often seen them, some make journeys of more than 11 lb (5 kg) per year.
in eelgrass beds and on coral reefs. than 600 miles (1,000 km), navigating

Named after its conspicuous beaked in diagonally opposite pairs—other
ORDER CHELONIA ORDER CHELONIA
snout, the hawksbill has a carapace marine turtles move their front
Hawksbill Turtle with a raised, central keel and pointed flippers together—the same action Loggerhead Turtle
shell plates (scutes) around its rear they use when swimming.
margin. It lives in warm-water regions, The hawksbill is the chief source
Eretmochelys imbricata Caretta caretta
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LENGTH 2 / 2 –3 / 4 ft feeding on sponges, mollusks, and of tortoiseshell—detached, polished LENGTH 2 / 4 –3 / 4 ft
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(0.8–1 m) other sedentary animals, and rarely scutes. Despite being classified as (0.7–1 m)
WEIGHT 100–165 lb strays far from shallows and coral reefs. Critically Endangered by the IUCN, WEIGHT 165–350 lb
(45–75 kg) It is less migratory than other marine hawksbills are often killed and stuffed (75–160 kg)
HABITAT Coral reefs and turtles, breeding at low densities all when young to be sold as curios, HABITAT Open sea, coral
coastal shallows over the tropics instead of gathering particularly in Southeast Asia. reefs, coasts
DISTRIBUTION Tropical and warm-temperate waters at certain beaches. On land, it has a Attempts at farming these turtles DISTRIBUTION Tropical and warm temperate waters
worldwide distinctive gait, moving its flippers have not been successful. worldwide
After the leatherback (opposite), the
loggerhead is the second-largest marine
turtle. It has a blunt head, powerful
jaws, and a steeply domed carapace.
It hunts and eats hard-bodied animals,
such as crabs, lobsters, and clams. This
species takes about 30 years to mature
and breeds every other year.
OCEAN LIFE