Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 108 , December 2013, pp. 1-25. | Page 10

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prevent instances of cold-stunning. Higher water temperatures cause an increase in metabolism and heart rate. A loggerhead's body temperature increases in warmer waters more quickly than it decreases in colder water; their critical thermal maximum is currently unknown (Wikipedia).

A fisherman is carrying the Loggerhead Sea Turtle on the coast of Gaza, State of Palestine. 28.08.2013. Photo by Ihab Fasfous (Dunya Al Watan, 2013). Female-female aggression, which is especially uncommon in marine vertebrates, is common among loggerheads. Ritualized aggression escalates from passive threat displays to combat. This conflict primarily occurs over access to feeding grounds. Escalation typically follows four steps. First, initial contact is stimulated by visual or tactile cues. Second, confrontation occurs, beginning with passive confrontations characterized by wide head-tail circling. They begin aggressive confrontation when one turtle ceases to circle and directly faces the other. Third, sparring occurs with turtles snapping at each other’s jaws. The final stage, separation, is either mutual, with both turtles swimming away in opposite directions, or involves chasing one out of the immediate vicinity. Escalation is determined by several factors, including hormone levels, energy expenditure, expected outcome, and importance of location. At all stages, an upright tail shows willingness to escalate, while a curled tail shows willingness to submit. Because higher aggression is metabolically costly and potentially debilitating, contact is much more likely to escalate when the conflict is over access to good foraging grounds. Further aggression has also been reported in captive
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 108 – December 2013