A typical dive lasts for four or five minutes, but loggerheads are capable for diving for up to 20 minutes and can rest for hours without breathing.Some people have observed nesting females “crying” for their young, but they are really excreting salt. Loggerhead turtles have salt glands near their eyes which let them drink salt water and excrete salt in high concentrations.Not much is known about the lifespan of loggerhead turtles, but it is estimated that they can live for 30 to 62 years in the wild. Hatchlings emerge from the nest at night and head towards the ocean. Females leave the eggs after they have been buried. This means that the sex of the hatchlings is determined by egg temperature during incubation. Like many turtles, loggerheads have temperature-dependent sex determination. In the Chesapeake Bay region, this is usually a barrier island with a sand beach that’s high enough so nests are not destroyed by high tides or soaked by ground water rising from below.Ī female may lay two to five nests per year, each with 110 to 130 eggs. Adults may even return to the very beach where they were hatched. Loggerhead turtles tend to return to the same nesting area year after year. The breeding season lasts from April to August. Loggerheads in temperate waters migrate towards the equator to avoid cold winter waters. Known for their migratory behavior, some loggerhead turtles have been recorded migrating up to 3,000 miles. Hatchlings emerge at night to try and avoid predators, but they are still eaten by raccoons, crabs, birds, foxes and carnivorous fish. Females try to disguise nests, but they still suffer from predation. Hatchlings have far fewer defenses and many predators. These defenses usually work, but they are still preyed upon by sharks or killed by humans when they get caught in fishing gear.
#Unlicensed photos loggerhead seaturtle skin
Loggerheads count on their hard shell and rough, scaly skin on their head and neck to protect them from predators. Unlike most turtles, sea turtles cannot withdraw into their shells for protection. They forage for horseshoe crabs, but will also eat other crustaceans, sponges, jellyfish, mollusks, snails, fish, fish eggs and sea grasses. They crush them with their powerful jaws before swallowing. Loggerhead turtles are mainly carnivores and feed on invertebrates. Juveniles have a brown carapace with three keels (or ridges) and a whitish, yellowish or tan plastron. The fore-flippers are large while the hind-flippers are short and paddle-like. The loggerhead’s snout is short and the upper jaw is yellowish brown. The underside, sides of neck and parts of the flippers are cream to yellow. The top of the head, neck, shell and front of the fore-flippers are reddish brown. Star-shaped, light and dark streaks may be present on the shell. The carapace (top shell) is heart shaped while the plastron (lower shell) is smaller and hingeless. This makes them the largest hard-shelled sea turtle alive today. The loggerhead turtle is a large sea turtle that can grow to be between 31 and 45 inches in length and weigh between 170 and 350 pounds.
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