This one is Loggerhead specific. Collectively we have worked with turtles for more than 15 years in beautiful Queensland.
Want to see turtles in Queensland? We know the best spots to go!
Turtles come back to the same beach where they were born.
Scientists have discovered that turtles have magnetite in their brain. As they run down the beach to the water after emerging from their nest, they use the magnetic forces from the earth’s core to imprint the location in their brains. 30 years later, when they are ready to breed and lay their eggs, they return to, if not the same beach, the same region.
Turtles have oviducts that are a whopping three metres long!
That’s right, our Loggerhead turtles store their egg follicles in these oviducts. The sperm from the several males that she has mated with is stored here also. The follicles travel down the oviduct, become fertilised by the sperm and begin to form an egg.
Loggerhead turtles will lay 406 eggs on average per breeding season.
Thankfully for them they do not lay every year, but save their energy to lay every four years. When it is their turn to shine and breed they will come ashore three to five times, at two week intervals, and lay on average 127 eggs.
The temperature of the nest determines the sex of the babies.
Like most other reptiles, the temperature of the nest determines what sex they are. For the Queensland Loggerheads the optimal temperature is 28.6 degrees Celsius. Any warmer than that, up to 33 degrees, will produce more females, and any cooler than that will produce more males. An easy way to remember that is: chicks are hot and dudes are cool!
Loggerheads are critically endangered.
Critically endangered (according to the IUCN) is one step away from being extinct. Our Loggerheads have faced huge threats over the years, and if we do not act now, they may not be around for any longer.
Their major threats are the fishing industry, light pollution, climate change and plastic.
We need more protection of habitats, less plastic being used and more education around conservation. Here at Khaki & Ocean our main value is love: for the planet, the trees, the land and the sea.
