Loggerhead sea turtle has the largest head of all sea turtles
21 Interesting Facts about Loggerhead Sea Turtle
This post provides interesting facts about the loggerhead sea turtle to improve your knowledge about the animal; it also provides pictures to make the learning fun.
The loggerhead is another kind of sea turtle with scientific name Caretta Caretta from the kindom of animalia, the family of Chaloniidae and of the genus of caretta.
And like other sea turtles, the loggerhead is also classified as a reptile.
The name loggerhead was derived from the turtle’s very large head; their head is the largest among sea turtles; they also have very powerful jaw.
The loggerhead sea turtle is a fascinating animal to behold, displaying amazing characteristics.
Here are 21 interesting and fun facts you may not have learned about the loggerhead sea turtle:
1. The loggerhead sea turtle is possibly the most populated of all the ocean turtles and also the only turtle that frequently nests on the U. S. seashore, on beaches from New Jersey to Lone-Star State.
2. This auburn turtle averages three feet (0.9 m) long and weighs three hundred pounds (136 kg).
3. The loggerhead marine turtle alongside with the Atlantic ridley marine turtle have 5 or even more massive lateral plates on either side between the bone and marginal plates.
4. It has 2 pairs of anterior plates on the prominently big, block-like head.
5. The loggerhead sea turtle’s shell is split into two segment; shell and plastron, the shell is further divided into massive plates or scutes. Normally, eleven or twelve pairs of marginal scutes rim the shell, five bonny scutes run down the carapace’s plane whereas five pairs of bone scutes create border among them.
6. What do loggerhead sea turtles eat? Loggerhead’s food includes crabs and crustaceans; it also feeds on mollusks, jellyfish, and generally fish and eelgrass.
7. The loggerhead ocean turtle’s powerful jaws muscles which are well matched to feeding on hard-shelled prey.
8. The male usually have a wider head than the female and also their shell is measured wider and fewer vaulted than the female.
9. They are amazing swimmers that are capable of moving at a speed of 24 kg per hour, and can possibly spend longer time underneath the water when they are resting, but swim to the surface of the water for breathe.
The loggerheads are amazing swimmers
10. The young and growing loggerheads spend seven to twelve years migrating from one ocean to the other, developing before returning to near shore.
11. The issue of sexual dimorphism is visible in adult loggerheads alone. The full grown male loggerheads have longer tails and claws more than their female counterpart, and the male’s plastrons is said to be smaller than that of the female.
12. The nuchal protective covering is found at the bottom of the head and the shell is attached to the plastron with 3 pairs of inframarginal scutes shaping the bridge of the shell.
13. The Lachrymal gland is situated behind both eyes; this enables the turtle to take care of diffusion balance which is done by removing the surplus salt gotten from consuming ocean water. While on the land, the excretion of excess salt leads to the wrong impression that the turtle is crying.
14. How long do loggerhead sea turtles live? The loggerhead lifespan is an average of 60 years, though in most cases it lives more than this age.
15. Where do loggerhead sea turtles live? The turtle live in areas like terrestrial zones, oceanic zones, and near shore coastal areas.
16. Its reproductive age ranges from 17 to 33 years and the mating season could last for six weeks. This is so because more females are capable of swimming faster to mating grounds, therefore, they need longer periods for mating.
17. The distance notwithstanding, the female is always returning to the beach during the season of nesting where they previously hatched their eggs in order to lay new eggs.
The loggerhead perhaps has the largest population of all sea turtles
18. The shell provides external shield, though this reptile cannot pull in their heads or flippers back into their carapaces.
19. The sex of baby loggerheads cannot be ascertained by external analysis but rather by dissection Laparotomy. In other words, the temperature of the natal place is very vital in the prediction of the sex of the hatchlings; when the nest is cool the sex of the hatchling tends to be male while a warm atmosphere gives birth to female loggerheads.
20. This reptile has numerous predators ranging from different animals to humans.
21. Loggerhead sea turtles have the ability of demonstrating severe paternity, this is feasibly attributable to spermatozoan storage. The feminine stores sperm from different male in her oviduct till biological process takes place. One unit clutch of eggs could possibly have up to five fathers with each contributing to the spermatozoan to a little of the clutch.
Do you have additional facts about the loggerhead sea turtle? Please, share them in the box below if you do.