Photo gallery: Turtle nest hatching

Three live-pipped turtles were found. This means that the turtles were still hatching when the nest was surveyed.
The turtles that hatched during the nest cleaning process were kept for a couple days to ensure they wdere strong enough to swim in the Atlantic.
Twenty-six live baby turtles were found.
In Flagler County, the biggest predictors of the nests are fire ants and ghost crabs.
The live turtles were helped out of the nest by the Turtle patrol and released to make their way into the Atlantic.
A loggerhead nest takes 45 to 60 days to hatch.
Loggerhead turtles are the most abundant of all the marine turtle species in U.S. waters, but they have been on the endangered species list since 1978.
Some factors in their population declines are pollution, shrimp trawling, and development in their nesting areas.

Currently 2 Responses

1.
The story reminds me of our Pacific Golden Plovers. Aout the size of a Robin, They left Hawaii at the end of April, flew none stop to the Arctic
Circle, mated and raised theirnoffspring. When the offspring are self sufficient, the parents take off and fly back to Hawaii. Toward the end
of August, when strong enough the offspring will get airborn and with out a map or compass. the "kids" will make straight for Hawaii, although they have never been before.
Can't beat Mother Nature for unbelievable stories.
ROBERT TALMADGE
Sat 28th Jul 2012
at 2:47am

2.
I think this is so amazing!!!! These little guys are dropped and buried under the sand by their mother who, once the egs are laid, goes back to the sea. And if some critter doesn't eat the eggs, when they hatch, the immediately begin to crawl back to the sea. They never know their mother but they instinctively know what to do and where to go. And this happens every year and has been going on for millions of years. This is so AWESOME!!!!
Nancy Erhardt
Tue 24th Jul 2012
at 3:07pm

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