OUTWARD BOUND
Turtle Time SEA TURTLES CAPTURE IMAGINATIONS AND INSPIRE CONSERVATION EFFORTS . | BY MICAELA MYERS |
Sea turtles are captivating . Weighing up to 2,000 pounds , they glide slowly and gracefully through the waters or bob near the surface , feeding . They share with us a long lifespan as well as a desire to travel , migrating thousands of miles the world over . Wherever their journeys take them , when it ’ s time to lay their eggs , they head back to where they themselves were born , decades earlier .
STATESIDE SEA TURTLES Unlike tortoises or freshwater turtles , sea turtles cannot retract their head or flippers into their shells . As reptiles , they breathe air , but spend most of their lives in water , mainly coming ashore to nest .
Six of the world ’ s seven sea turtle species are found in U . S . waters : loggerhead , hawksbill , green , leatherback , Kemp ’ s ridley and olive ridley . Leatherbacks are the largest , weighing up to 2,000 pounds and measuring up to 6 feet in length . All six are protected under the Endangered Species Act , and with advancements in fishing technology and conservation efforts , their numbers are improving .
The seventh species , the flatback sea turtle , lives almost exclusively in the sandy beaches and shallow coastal waters of Australia and Papua New Guinea .
LOGGING LOGGERHEADS Five U . S . turtle species can be found along Georgia ’ s coast , but loggerhead sea turtles most frequently nest along the Golden Isles each summer . Weighing 200 to 350 pounds and measuring 2.5 to 3.5 feet , loggerhead sea turtles are named for their large heads and sport brown , reddish brown and yellow coloring . Loggerhead sea turtles can live 70 years or more and , since the early 1990s , their population has continued to rise .
Like humans , loggerhead sea turtles go through various stages of development over their long lives . Youngsters spend their first seven to 15 years in the open ocean , before migrating to near-shore coastal areas , where they continue to forage and grow . At around age 30 , they migrate to nest in the same beaches where they themselves hatched .
20 SEA ISLAND LIFE | SPRING / SUMMER 2023