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:
- Leatherback turtle (Penyu Belimbing)
- Green turtle (Penyu Agar /Penyu Pulau)
- Hawksbill turtle (Penyu Karah / Penyu Sisik)
- 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:
Source: Turtle
Conservation Society (http://www.turtleconservationsociety.org.my/resources/educational-posters/)
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.
Source: WWF (http://wwf.panda.org/_core/general.cfc?method=getOriginalImage&uImgID=%26%2AR0%26%21%2ES7%0A)
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.
Written
by:
Chin
Huai Yan
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