Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin (ISSN 0178 – 6288) . Number 115, July 2014, pp. 1-9.

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Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta
Linnaeus, 1758) Nesting in Palestine
‫تعشيش السالحف البحرية الضخمة الرأس في فلسطين‬
By: Prof. Dr. Sc. Norman Ali Bassam Ali Taher
Khalaf-Sakerfalke von Jaffa
The Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta Linnaeus, 1758), or Loggerhead,
is an oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile,
belonging to the family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around
90 cm (35 in) long when fully grown, although larger specimens of up to 280 cm
(110 in) have been discovered. The adult loggerhead sea turtle weighs
approximately 135 kg (300 lb), with the largest specimens weighing in at more
than 450 kg (1,000 lb). The skin ranges from yellow to brown in color, and the
shell is typically reddish-brown. No external differences in gender are seen until
the turtle becomes an adult, the most obvious difference being the adult males
have thicker tails and shorter plastrons than the females (Wikipedia, Khalaf
2013).

Hatchling Loggerhead sea turtles near Atlit, south of Haifa, Occupied Palestine, on their
way to the Mediterranean Sea. Photo: Hila Shaked. August 2010.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Hatchling_Loggerhead_Sea_Turtle
s_near_Atlit_Israel.jpg
Gazelle : The Palestinian Biological Bulletin – Number 115 – July 2014