Our oceans are home to some pretty incredible creatures. But we’ve got a particular soft spot for our hard-shelled friends!
Spotting turtles in the wild is a truly special experience, from green sea turtles on Hawaii’s beaches to underwater turtle-watching in Central America.
May 23rd is World Turtle Day, and we’re celebrating by sharing some really cool and interesting turtle-related facts that you might not know about these lovable reptiles.
- There are seven species of sea turtle: leatherback, loggerhead, green, hawksbill, Kemp’s Ridley, olive ridley and flatback.
- The flatback turtle can only be found in the waters around Australia – the other six make their home in every ocean except the polar regions.
- It’s estimated that turtles date back around 150million years, making them some of the world’s oldest living creatures.
- Turtles are reptiles that spend their entire lives at sea, except for adult females – who return to shore, to the same beach they were born on, to lay eggs. How do they find their way back? Using the earth’s magnetic field, obviously! (Which would be a super handy skill on a night out…)
- The sex of baby turtles is usually down to temperature during the incubation period. Warmer temperatures result in more female hatchlings, while cooler temps = more dudes.
- Leatherback sea turtles really love to swim, often clocking up more than 10,000 miles each year. Which is an average of over 27 miles PER DAY. Yep, we’re knackered just thinking about it.
- Green sea turtles can hold their breath to stay underwater for up to five hours.
- Sea turtles tend to eat a mixture of small sea creatures like jellyfish, shrimp and mollusks – but adult green turtles live on a basically vegetarian diet, munching on seagrass and algae. It’s only the grown-ups though – juvenile sea turtles are omnivores!
- Six out of seven species of sea turtle are classed as threatened or endangered. Threats to their survival include poaching, fishing and human lifestyle – in particular, water contaminated due to plastic waste. Something which we can all help play a part in stopping. This World Turtle Day (May 23rd), why not pledge to cut down on single use plastic, so we can all play a part in keeping these amazing sea-dwelling creatures splashing around the world’s waters?
- Ever thought about volunteering with animals abroad? You can find projects helping sea turtles all over the world! Browse our gap year volunteer projects today.
Hopefully you enjoyed learning more about turtles, view our gap year blog for more articles.