Friday 11 July 2014

A LIFE CYCLE of a TURTLE from an EGG

Marine turtles? What is in your mind?

Marine turtles are graceful and majestic animals in the ocean. They glide through the water effortlessly, flapping their arms like wings. Marine turtles can be found throughout the oceans of the world, from coral reefs to open ocean BUT some of them are in the endangered list.

There are 7 species of marine turtles in the world. In Malaysia, there are only 4 species of marine turtles:
  1.          Leatherback turtle (Penyu Belimbing)
  2.          Green turtle (Penyu Agar /Penyu Pulau)
  3.          Hawksbill turtle (Penyu Karah / Penyu Sisik)
  4.          Olive ridley turtle (Penyu Lipas)
Are you curious about marine turtle's life? Here we go,on how is a marine turtle life cycle.

1.     Marine turtles normally reach sexual maturity at 3-5 years of age. Once sexually mature adult males and females migrate towards the area where they hatched. This migration can be thousands of kilometers.

2.     Females mate with a number of different males. Females store the sperm and use it to fertilize several clutches of eggs that they will lay in the course of the nesting season. Males return to their feeding areas once the females begin to nest.

3.     Females usually nest at night to avoid the sun’s heat. They crawl out onto the beach and seek a suitable location to dig a nest in the sand and lay their eggs which look just like ping pong balls. They dig a body pit with their fore flippers then excavate an egg chamber with their rear flippers. They may repeat this process several times until they are satisfied that the nesting conditions are correct, at which point they will lay a clutch of eggs. They then fill in the nest with sand and return to the water where they begin the fertilization process again with sperm that they have previously stored. This process is repeated about every 2 weeks. Depending on the species, a female may lay between 50 and 130 eggs and as many as 7 clutches of eggs each nesting season. 

 

More Information on Marine Turtles Nesting Process:

4.     The eggs hatch after an incubating duration of 45-70 days.

5.     After hatching, the baby turtles will all dig their way out of the sand, leave the nest and enter a dangerous world of storms and predators.

6.     Upon reaching the size about 60com, the turtles settle in near-shore shallow waters to feed and mature to adulthood.

7.     After a long maturation period of 20-50 years, the turtles are ready to breed and perform long distance breeding migrations.

8.     Female turtles return to their original birth place to breed and lay eggs.

9.     After breeding is complete for the season, adults migrate back to foraging grounds to feed and prepare for the next breeding season. Breeding migrations occurs every 3-5 years.


***Extra information for you***
Baby turtles are instinctively attracted to light. The moon naturally points them towards the waves where they will be safe. They will also follow any other light that seems brighter than the moon, including houses and street lamps. This is why many seaside areas are asked to turn their lights off at night during breeding season.




As we can see, it takes about several years for the turtles to mature before being able to return and mate. And of 1000 hatchlings, only ONE will survive to maturity! It time for us to protect these near extinct majestic creatures. Support us by make a donating now. Bring along your unwanted phone, tablet and laptop and join us on 16-18 July 2014 (Wednesday to Friday), 9am-5pm at TARUC Canteen 2 Concourse area. Hope to see you there.

Like our official Facebook page to show your support, https://www.facebook.com/RingALife


Written by:

Chin Huai Yan

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