Loggerhead Sea Turtle

Loggerhead Sea turtles (Caretta caretta) derived their name from their large heads. There are two subspecies of this turtle - Caretta caretta gigas and caretta caretta. The former is usually found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans and the latter is found in some Greek islands, southwestern Turkey and south Italy. Loggerhead turtles are abundantly seen in the US waters and is the state reptile of South Carolina.

Physical Features
Loggerhead sea turtles have large heads with powerful jaws. An average loggerhead sea turtle can grow to a length of more than one meter and can weigh up to 365 kilograms. The top shell, which is slightly heart-shaped has a reddish brown color and the color of the bottom shell is pale yellow to brownish yellow. This color applies to the neck and flippers too. The color of the hatchlings slightly differ from that of the adults. They have brown top shells and the bottom shell has a yellowish to tan color. Flippers are dark gray or brown with white or pale brown margins. The newborns weigh up to 20 grams and have an average body length of two inches. These turtles do not have the ability to withdraw their head into the shell, but they are protected from predators by their thick shell and large head. Adult male loggerheads have longer and stronger tail than that of the females.

Range and Habitat
Loggerhead Sea turtles can survive in a variety of environments and are found across the world. They can live in river mouths, coastal lagoons, oceans, and tropical and temperate waters. They are abundant in continental shelves of Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. The major nestling region consists of beaches along the Atlantic coast of Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and in the southeastern United States.

Their habitat includes creeks, bays, lagoons, ship channels, river mouths, and salt marshes. Ship wrecks, coral reefs and rock outcroppings are their feeding grounds. They also feed in shallow water along the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Generally, they prefer relatively narrow, steeply sloped, coarse-grained beaches for nesting. The hatchlings like to live in warm ocean currents among floating wreckage of ships or sargassum (brown algae) mats in open ocean drift lines. As they grow to a length of 40 to 50 centimeter, they migrate to shallow coastal waters. They migrate to long distances, especially for nesting purposes.

Feeding and Nesting
Usually, loggerhead turtles feed on horseshoe crabs, conch, mussels, shellfish and other invertebrates. Their powerful jaws help them in feeding on these thick-shelled creatures. During long migrations, they eat squids, floating mollusks, jellyfishes and fish. It is seen that sometimes they feed on remains of dead fish, but generally, they are not fish eaters. Hatchlings feed on sponges, sargassum weed and small gastropods.

Adult loggerhead turtles attain sexual maturity between the age of 15 to 30 years. It is said that, by then the top shell grows to a length of up to 100 centimeters. The mating season is late March to June and the peak nesting season is June and July. A female can nest every two to three years and nesting usually happens in the night. Females leave the ocean, moves up the beach and make pits to lay eggs. A female can deposit around 50 to 200 eggs, which are reminiscent golf balls in size. After laying the last egg, the turtle cover the pit with sand, before returning to the sea.

The eggs incubate for a period of about 60 days. Usually, the hatchlings emerge at night and moves to the sea taking cue from the light from the sky, reflected by the sea water. They drift with ocean currents and move to areas covered with sargassum mats and remain there till they reach maturity. Most of the loggerhead turtles can live for more than 30 years and some can cover a lifespan of 198 years too.

Nowadays, the main threat to the life of these turtle spices is the fishing methods of human beings. Coastal development also resulted in the loss of nesting habitats. At present, they are listed as endangered, under both Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, 1999 and Queensland's Nature Conservation Act 1992. In United States, they come under the U.S. Federal Endangered Species Act. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources has also listed this turtle as endangered (facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in near future). However, many efforts are being taken by the animal conservation activists to protect these turtles from extinction.