Researchers describe the sea turtles migration from its feeding ground to its nesting beach as "one of the most remarkable acts in the animal kingdom".For decades, this reptile has intrigued them.
Every two to four years, the female turtle comes ashore to lay her eggs_numbering about a hundred in a single nest_and conceal them in the sand. Once hatched, the baby turtle make their way to the ocean. They then embark on an amazing journey that, all, told, may cover a distance of some 12,900kilometers. Years later, the female turtles, now mature, return to lay their own eggs_at the same stretch of beach where there were hatched!
How do sea turtles navigate? "It Seems they inherited some sort of magnetic map" says biologist Kenneth Lohmann of the university of North Carolina in United States, quoted in National Geographic News. Research indicates that the turtle angle and intensity of the earth's magnetic field . This amazing ability enables these tiny, defenseless hatchlings to embark on their 12,900kilometers migration around the Atlantic "and they do it alone without following other turtles" says Lohmann.
Fast Facts
● After laying and concealing her egg,the female turtle abandons the nest.
● To break out of its shell, the hatchling uses a special tooth called a caruncle, which then falls off.
● Sea turtles speed 90 percent of their life in the ocean.
0 Comments