Where do turtles live and how many eggs do they lay? Turtle farms, the oldest farm in sri lanka in kosgoda. Nutrition, population situation

Behavior of pregnant females

It is better to immediately separate a pregnant female from the male, since during the mating period males can be aggressive and can harm even an already pregnant female. Before laying, females become restless, eat poorly, and fence off their territory. Pregnant female aquatic turtles spend a lot of time on land, basking under a lamp. During this time, she may refuse to eat. Try to offer her a variety of foods with good calcium supplements. Pregnancy lasts about 2 months, but if the female does not find a suitable place to lay eggs, she can continue to carry them for some time.

About 2 weeks before giving birth, you may notice that the female spends more and more time on land, snorting and digging around herself to find a place to lay eggs.

Organization of the masonry site

For land turtles, there is no need to make a laying site (if there is soil in the terrarium), since they often lay eggs where they want and where they can. But for aquatic turtles, you need to make a container with soil on the shore. The size of the container should be at least 2 times the size of the turtle. Sand or vermiculite is recommended everywhere, but they are not very convenient, as they fall into the water, from where it is impossible to remove them later. It is better for turtles to put “exoterra jungle” (not “forest”) soil on the shore; it is better to use an oblong rather than a round-square one. The depth should be 2.5-5 cm, or better yet 10-30 cm. There should be easy access to the shore. The female lays her eggs in a hole in the ground, which she previously moistens with liquid from the cloacal vesicles.

Mediterranean turtles prefer to lay their eggs on gentle slopes with sandy soil in sunny days from noon until the end of the day. But redlegs prefer soils that are rich in organic matter, moist, or damp dirt. They lay eggs at dusk during light rain.

The depth of the substrate in which the turtle will lay eggs is also important. Some turtles refuse to lay eggs if they cannot bury them deep enough. The depth of the soil should be at least equal to the length of the hind legs plus 70% of the length of the carapace.

Laying eggs

In captivity, turtles rarely breed, but sometimes lay eggs in the spring. Gestation of eggs by a female lasts approximately 2 months, and incubation of eggs outside the female’s body takes the same amount of time. In nature, the female begins to lay eggs in the summer, and before the shell is formed, they must be fertilized by the male in the spring. If the soil is hard, then the work of digging a hole by the female can take three hours or more; if the soil is soft, the work can be completed in 15-20 minutes. While digging, the turtle turned from time to time, eventually making a full circle, which is why the hole acquired the correct shape.
After the work is finished, the turtles' hind legs are left hanging in the hole. After a few minutes of rest, during which the female remains completely motionless, egg laying begins. As soon as the egg emerges from the cloaca, the female connects her hind legs and bends them slightly so that the egg gently slides down them into the hole. Since the hind legs rest against the edge of the hole, the egg always ends up on the edge, and not in the middle of the hole. After a few minutes, the turtle turns in a circle and lays the next egg. The interval between the laying of two eggs can be longer - up to 20-30 minutes. After the last egg is laid, the turtle remains motionless for a while and then pushes the dug-out soil back with its hind legs. When the hole is filled up, the female is still for a long time marks time and sometimes lies motionless, sometimes, rising and falling on notes, as if compacting the loosened earth with a plastron. During this time, all three species of turtles often excrete urine and sniff the area where the eggs are buried.

The laid eggs must be placed in the incubator, but only after the turtle has laid them, buried them (if necessary) and gone about its business. Careful numbering with a very soft pencil will help ensure the correct position of the eggs. It is also advisable to indicate the date of egg laying in order to calculate the incubation period from it. If the eggs have embryos, then turtles will hatch from them in at least two months. If the eggs were laid in water and not removed within several hours, then most likely nothing will hatch from them. Before incubation, turtle eggs can be stored for several days in a box with cotton wool or dry sawdust at normal room temperature.

In addition to temperature, a significant role is played solar radiation. If eggs of all three species can withstand cooling to 0° and heating to 40°, then keeping them in the sun for 15-20 minutes, even at low temperatures (18-20°), leads to the death of the eggs.

Sea turtles lay their eggs in the places where they themselves hatched, for which they have to swim many kilometers. Females crawl onto land, dig a pitcher-shaped hole in the sand or other soil with their hind paws and lay eggs in it. Then the hole is filled up and compacted from above with blows of the plastron. The eggs are spherical or elliptical, white or slightly yellowish in color, covered with a hard calcareous shell. Only sea turtles and some side-necked turtles have eggs covered with a soft, leathery shell. Before going onto land, the turtle carefully examines the shore, although it sees worse on land than in water. If she feels or sees some kind of danger, she will not go onto land and will come later or another day. Turtles are spooked by any light other than red, so researchers use red flashlights to observe adult turtles and hatchlings on land.

If you need to transfer eggs sea ​​turtles, then it is also necessary to mark the top of them if more than a day has passed since the start of egg laying. It seems like if you turn the eggs over after moving it, the baby turtle will dig in the wrong direction and will not be able to come to the surface normally. According to other sources, 5-6 hours after eggs are laid, they cannot be turned over, otherwise the embryos in the eggs may die.

If a turtle has laid eggs in water, then if they are not removed within 1-2 hours, the embryos die due to lack of oxygen.

The number of eggs laid by turtles varies different types from a few pieces to hundreds. Many turtles have multiple clutches during the season.

The red-eared (aka yellow-bellied) turtle is one of the most popular pets. Many owners of these wonderful reptiles are thinking about breeding them. The reasons for this are very different: someone wants to increase the number of pets without buying them, but by raising them themselves from birth to adulthood.

Some are thinking about starting to sell grown turtles, others plan to give them to friends and acquaintances. The motives can be very different, but people often make the same mistakes. To avoid them, you need to know a few key things (this is the bare minimum):

1. What conditions should be created for the breeding of turtles?
2. How to determine their gender
3. How do turtles mate in captivity?
4. What to do with eggs. Egg incubator.
5. How to care for newborn turtles and what to feed them.

If man decided to breed turtles, we can assume that he already knows the basic things: how to arrange an aquaterrarium, what to feed the pets, how often to change the water, etc. If anyone still has doubts about how properly organized the “living space” is for their favorite reptiles, and If you don’t want to re-read a huge amount of material, it’s easy to find short but informative videos on the Internet about how everything should be arranged.

It is important to understand that the conditions necessary for turtles to survive and grow may not be sufficient for them to reproduce. What do you need to consider to make everything work?

Necessary nuances

Males reach puberty earlier approximately in the fifth year of life, while in females in the sixth year. Many people either don’t know this difference or forget about it. Naturally, in this case nothing happens.

If there are several turtles, it is better when for several females there is one male. This will help avoid conflicts between “boys” and possible injuries. You can understand what sex a reptile is no earlier than it is one year old. Males are smaller in size, but have larger claws and tails. The lower part of the shell also helps to understand the gender - in boys it has a very noticeable “dent”.

For mating It is recommended to place the female and male in a separate aquarium. It must be filled with clean, settled water. Temperature is extremely important - it should be warmer than the water in the “main” aquaterrarium. The fact is that a change in water and an increase in its temperature are an important additional incentive for red-eared turtles to mate.

In order for turtles to mate, they need water., but at the same time the male can get carried away and not allow the female to surface. Therefore, the depth in this “special” aquarium should be small, about 10–12 centimeters.

Before mating interesting “marriage games” take place: The male swims close to the female, periodically tickling her face with his claws and hitting her shell with the front edge of his shell. On YOUTUBE you can find a video of exactly how the “flirting” of red-eared turtles occurs.

The duration of sexual intercourse is on average 7–15 minutes. If, after “relocating” to a separate aquarium, the reptiles do not pay attention to each other, then they need to be resettled for a couple of days.

It is better to separate a pregnant female from the male, as he may involuntarily injure her.

Care of masonry and newborns

Red-eared turtles lay eggs in sand or soil. It is better not to leave the clutch unattended: leaving everything as is, it is more difficult to control development and increases the risk of losing all the eggs. They may be accidentally damaged by the turtles themselves, or mold may develop on the eggs.

It is best to transfer the eggs to an incubator.. This must be done extremely carefully, trying not only not to damage, but not even to turn them. Some experts advise marking top surface eggs with a marker, which makes it easier to control their position.

The temperature in the incubator is set between 21–30 degrees. Changes are unacceptable, so I did not want to place the incubator in a place that would not allow:

• exposure to direct sunlight
• drafts

Development of the embryo lasts from two months to six months. After the babies hatch, they must be “separated” from the adult turtles. If it is not possible to place them in a separate aquaterrarium, you need to at least fence off a separate area for them inside the main one. In order for the “young animals” to grow and develop normally, it is necessary to periodically allow them to “warm up” under the rays of UV lamps.

The ideal food for newborn red-eared turtles is raw, lean fish. To ensure that the food is balanced, it is worth periodically feeding the babies with special food for newborn turtles.

Summary

Without following these rules it will be impossible to get offspring from these wonderful reptiles. It is important to understand that, like any other animals, red-eared turtles reproduce worse in captivity than in wildlife. To succeed, you will have to put in a lot of effort and create the most comfortable conditions for the turtles.

Turtles are the most ancient of modern reptiles. They descended directly from the ancestors of all reptile cotylosaurs almost 300 million years ago. Today, the way of life of turtles is not much different from the life of other reptiles - their shell, consisting of a dorsal shield - the carapace and an abdominal shield - the plastron, turned out to be such an effective defense against enemies. The carapace, in turn, consists of bone plates with which the ribs and processes of the vertebrae are fused. The plastron plates were formed from the clavicles and abdominal ribs. The carapace is essentially a “box” consisting of two shields. Depending on the habitat, the upper dorsal shield can be dome-shaped (in land turtles), flat (in freshwater species) or smooth and teardrop-shaped (in sea turtles).
Turtles live about 100 years. The record was set by a gigantic tortoise from the Seychelles: caught as an adult, it lived in captivity for 152 years! To determine the age of a turtle, it is enough to count the concentric rings on the scutes of its carapace: each corresponds to a year of life. This is not always easy: after 12 years, shell growth slows down, and the rings on the scutes of old animals simply wear off, becoming almost invisible. Then scientists focus on the size and mass of animals. For example, a female Balkan tortoise that is 17 cm long should be between 40 and 60 years old.

One of the most amazing is the elephant turtle. This giant of the reptile world inhabited the Galapagos Islands, where he reigned for many centuries, eating rich greenery and taking baths in shallow ponds. Another turtle, a resident of the Seychelles, is also quite impressive. Due to its size, the turtle received the name “gigantic”. Both of them have shell sizes on average of 80-100 cm and weigh from 100 to 120 kg. Some specimens reach 120-150 cm and weigh 200 kg or more. Moreover, their age can exceed 150 years.
The turtle's massive columnar legs support its large, heavy body. The height of the turtle is 1 m, the length of the shell is 1.5 m. These turtles have long necks and legs, the shell is curved upward over the head. Thanks to this, they can stretch to their full height and reach the lower branches of the tree with their mouth.
These giants survived and reached this age only thanks to isolation on remote oceanic islands. Their size protected the turtles from almost any predator that lived on the islands, but with the arrival of humans in the tropics, everything changed: they began to be exterminated due to delicious meat. Dogs and rats brought by humans destroyed turtle nests and hunted baby turtles. So giant tortoises would have completely disappeared from the face of the Earth if people had not come to their senses and began to protect them and breed them in captivity. Only the creation of reserves in the twentieth century and breeding in some zoos stopped their complete destruction.
In the wild, these turtles can now only be found on the Apdabra Atoll in Indian Ocean. The Italian zoologist F. Prosperi, who visited there, described them as follows: “... it was the kingdom of giant turtles. With slow, calm movements they stretched out their wrinkled necks. Their appearance was extraordinary - the appearance of creatures who, by some whim of nature, continue to exist in an era not intended for them.”
The habitat of the land elephant tortoise is Australian deserts or semi-deserts. It lives on land among thickets of wormwood and saxaul and is not at all adapted to life in water. She lacks swimming membranes on her paws, without which she cannot swim. In addition, the upper part of the shell of a land turtle is highly convex, which would significantly slow down its movement under water.
Only on the island of Madagascar, in semi-desert areas with sparse vegetation, a very rare radiated tortoise lives. This is a fairly large reptile, 40 cm in length and weighing up to 13 kg. The shell of this turtle is very beautiful, and this was the reason for its extermination. This turtle is now listed as a particularly vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List.
Balkan tortoise. It is found in forests and bushland from Spain to Romania and Greece. Prefers plant foods, although it does not refuse slugs, snails, and earthworms. It is easily recognized by the “claw” at the end of its tail, especially developed in males. The Balkan tortoise lives on average for half a century, although it can live up to 100 years. Destruction poses a serious threat to it natural environment. There are fewer and fewer places to build nests, so turtles keep laying eggs closer friend to friend. As a result, foxes, badgers and martens find and destroy many clutches at once.
Mediterranean turtle(Testudo graeca), like all land turtles, has a high shell covered with horny scutes. The length of the shell is from 15 to 35 cm. The front legs have five claws. Distributed across dry steppes and on shrubby mountain slopes ( Krasnodar region and Dagestan). Can be found in the lower belt of forests and gardens. It feeds on succulent grassy vegetation, sometimes fruits and berries. Active in the morning and evening hours. Reaches sexual maturity at 12-15 years of age. During the summer season it lays eggs three times (from two to eight in each clutch). The eggs, covered with a calcareous shell and reaching a diameter of 3 cm, are buried in a hole.
Like the Balkan tortoise, it hides and hibernates during the winter, hiding in the ground or in old badger holes. At this time, her heart rate is not 30, as usual, but only 2 beats per minute, her breathing is very slow, she does not eat or move.
Mediterranean (Greek) turtle. Despite its name, it is not found in Greece, but it is similar to the Balkan tortoise that lives there, only larger, and has a conical horny mound on its hips. This species is common in the Mediterranean and is sold there in all pet stores.
Rare, the total number in the Black Sea region does not exceed 8-12 thousand individuals. Young turtles are subject to strong pressure from predators. The number of turtles is reduced by their mass catching for home terrariums. Listed in the IUCN-96 Red List and Appendix II of the CITES Convention.
The Far Eastern turtle (Trionyx sinensis) belongs to the family Soft-bodied turtles (Pionychidae). This rare reptile is distributed throughout the Amur basin to the border with China. It belongs to the genus of soft-bodied turtles. Its shell is covered with soft skin on top, and there are no horny scutes. It lives in rivers and lakes, where, burrowing at the bottom, it lies in wait for its prey - fish, crustaceans, worms. The clutch (from 20 to 70 eggs) is made in several stages and hidden in the sand, choosing a well-warmed place. Eggs up to 2 cm in diameter are covered with a calcareous shell. Incubation period is 50-60 days. Small turtles are extremely mobile: they swim, dive, and bury themselves in the sand.
The constant decline in the number of soft-bodied turtles is associated with excessive fishing (turtle meat is considered a delicacy), collection of eggs, and the mass death of young animals from predators.
Desert tortoise (Gopherus agossizii). Length from 25 to 40 cm, height from 10 to 20 cm, weight up to 20 kg. Found in hot, arid regions of southwestern North America. Unlike other turtles, they are able to withstand severe temperature changes. During unbearable heat, desert tortoises spend most of the day and night in large burrows, which they dig with their front paws specifically for this purpose. The front feet of turtles are covered with tough scales and equipped with wide claws precisely to make this hard work easier.
Desert tortoises dig long underground tunnels with a moist depression at the bottom that maintains their most comfortable temperature. During the coldest and hottest months of the year, desert tortoises freeze in a spacious hole and sleep deeply.
Living in the desert, they learned to go without food for a long time. It feeds on plants, flowers and fruits. Typically, the desert tortoise leaves its burrow at dusk and goes in search of food, returning back at dawn.
Males and females differ markedly in size: males are much smaller, and females can weigh up to 20 kg.
The shell of desert tortoises can be of a variety of shades - from brown to yellow - and provides reliable protection against changing air temperatures. Thanks to their hard shell, which prevents moisture from evaporating, desert tortoises can survive in such an inhospitable environment without dying from dehydration. In addition, they are equipped with a wide and capacious bladder, which allows them to store moisture obtained from food - from cacti and other vegetation.
Desert tortoises - rare view turtles, which is in danger of extinction.
Everyone knows the peculiarity of turtles, in case of danger, to hide in their shell. But rare turtles can do this as well as the inhabitants of the tropics of America - box turtles. Their shell has elastic ligaments, thanks to which they can completely close themselves in the shell, turning into an armored ball!
No less interesting is the shell of the serrated quinix, an inhabitant of West Africa. The posterior third of its dorsal shield is connected to the main part by a transverse tendinous ligament and, in a moment of danger, can descend, pressing against the abdominal shield.

Naturalist's Notes
In early spring, as soon as the snow melts, as soon as the plains and hills of the Central Asian steppes are covered with young greenery, Central Asian turtles crawl into the light. They crawl out of their shelters - old rodent holes, cracks in the soil - exhausted, soiled with earth and fall limply, legs spread out to the sides. Turtles can lie like this for several hours - as if they are sunbathing, absorbing food with their whole body. solar heat. They poke their heads out of their shells and close their eyes blissfully.
And only after warming up, the turtle gains an interest in life: the black beads of its eyes begin to dart around in search of food.
Having difficulty rising to his feet, the turtle heavily approaches the green shoot and begins to pick off the juicy young leaves. From time to time she looks around, but the barely awakened steppe is silent. Suddenly, another turtle appears in the turtle’s field of vision - she woke up a few days earlier, and there is no longer winter stiffness in her movements. Forgetting about breakfast, the first turtle quickly runs (yes, runs, no matter how surprising it may sound!) towards the stranger, or rather, the alien.
Stretching his neck, the first male turtle makes several slurping sounds: this is his simple mating serenade. How does a voiceless reptile perform such a loud “song”? Yes, it’s very simple: by opening its mouth, the turtle takes in air and, clenching its jaws, quickly squeezes it out, which is what produces a slurping sound. But the female seems to remain deaf to the male's advances. But the third turtle, also a male, hurries to the sound of the mating call, rustling dry grass. He is clearly larger than his first suitor, and the deep scar running across his head gives him a pirate-like appearance.
Seeing a guest on his “dance floor”, the first male hisses angrily, retracting his head - a turtle pose of threat. But this does not frighten the battle-hardened “pirate” at all: he immediately rushes into battle without hesitation. Having gained sufficient speed, he hides his head and hits our male with force under the edge of his shell, trying to turn him over.
Jumping back, the first male hisses again with displeasure, moves away a few steps and strikes back. The blow was weak, but chance saved the day: the “pirate” was standing on the edge of a small ravine. Swaying, he tries to maintain his balance, but he fails, and, showering pebbles, he rolls down, but again turns to the female, who is watching the fight with interest and is already more favorable to the suitor’s song.
After a romantic spring, a hot summer comes, and a clutch of turtle eggs is already resting in a specially dug hole. And the turtles, having feasted on fresh greenery, hibernate again.
Turtles find secret corners for hibernation, and if that doesn’t work, then they do it themselves. powerful legs They dig deep holes - there, in the saving coolness, they wait out the scorching heat. They hide not even from the heat itself - their belly is reliably protected from overheating by the shell, and the long claws on which the turtle rests when walking, and large scales protect the limbs from burns - but from lack of food. In the sun-scorched steppe you won’t find a single piece of tender vegetation, so the turtles have to hibernate.
In August, they wake up and begin to actively feed again - accumulating supplies for the winter. Among the old turtles, which have lived for decades, there are also very small ones “grazing” - the size of a tablespoon, with a still soft shell.
Sometimes in the Central Asian steppes August is hot and dry, then turtles sleep until next spring. It turns out that sometimes they sleep for eight months a year!

FRESHWATER TURTLES
Nature has not endowed all turtles with a peaceful disposition; some of them are distinguished by a very predatory character. Swamp turtles live in the marshy ponds of Ukraine and adjacent areas of Southern Europe. Their coloring is discreet: they are “spattered” on a black background. yellow spots. It is no coincidence that the marsh turtle acquired this color: when the reptile basks in the sun on the shore, golden specks give it the appearance of a black stone covered with sunbeams. However, the calmness and immobility of a turtle is deceptive - at any moment it can slide into the water and immediately hide on the mud-covered bottom.
The marsh turtle swims deftly using its webbed feet. This reptile, 14-20 cm long, prefers lakes with a muddy bottom. She is very agile on land, but spends most of her time in the water. This predator sometimes drags chicks or small animals that have fallen out of their nests there, but its main menu is crustaceans, fish, tadpoles, frogs, insects, and slugs. IN Western Europe it is becoming less and less common, mainly because due to pollution or drainage of water bodies, it simply has nowhere to live. However, it is still very difficult to notice her: she is very careful.
In spring, the female leaves a clutch of eggs on the shore and again hurries into the water, leaving the offspring to fend for themselves. And the babies are in no hurry to be born: only in the fall will they leave their egg shells to immediately start hunting.
An American relative of the swamp turtle, the red-eared turtle, basks in the sun all day and only starts spearfishing in the evening. In the evening, courtship begins. Males red-eared turtle much smaller than the female - a third of her body size - and have a luxurious “manicure”! Claws three average the toes of their front paws reach several centimeters. Seeing a female, the suitor instantly abandons all important matters - searching for worms and tadpoles - and rushes towards her. He catches up, swims forward and begins to make “magic” passes with his front paws, showing off his amazing claws and lightly patting her on the head with them.

The turtles were called red-eared for the color of the temporal part of the head: two bright red stripes edged with black cross it obliquely. The turtle's body is also quite noticeably colored: green or brown on top and yellow below.
Turtle eggs hatch with a length of 3-4 cm, the length of adults is 40 cm with a body weight of 8 kg. This large freshwater turtle is native to the Mississippi Valley, where it is found literally everywhere. Previously, it was brought to Europe in large quantities by amateurs, but since 1997, the import of this species into EU countries is strictly prohibited. The fact is that the owners have developed a bad habit of releasing pets that have become too large into local rivers. And the voracious strangers attacked frogs, toads, small fish, but most importantly, they forced out a rare species, the European marsh turtle.
Discovered only in 1925, the Texas map turtle is probably the smallest in the world, measuring less than 9 cm as an adult. It lives in the Colorado River basin of North America in a very small area in the center of Texas. This turtle got its name “cartographic” for the intricate lines on its shell. This little one is a freshwater turtle and swims well thanks to the membranes between the toes on all its feet.
In reservoirs North America There is another small aquatic turtle called the musk turtle. Her miniature body is only 10 cm long. Despite her small size, she has powerful weapon against enemies. The turtle's body is equipped with special musk glands, from which, if necessary, it emits a repulsive odor. Having smelled it, many predators leave the turtle alone.
Along the Pacific coast of Asia, on the Japanese Islands and Taiwan, lives the freshwater predator Chinese trionix, or soft-shelled turtle. It is called Trionics because of the three rather long and sharp claws on its front and hind legs.
Trionics belongs to the group of leatherback turtles. His appearance amazing: the upper part of the body is covered with a soft, leathery shell, which is much larger than the body itself, but the lower part of the shell is disproportionately small. The neck of the trionix is ​​long and flexible like a snake, and its limbs have turned into flippers. Trionix spends all its time in the water, and only in the spring do females with difficulty get ashore to lay eggs. In water, Trionix is ​​fast and agile - it can chase fish with incredible speed or elude a predator.
How does Trionix hunt? Having chosen a suitable place on the bottom, covered with a thick layer of silt, he buries himself in it, sticks his head out and waits for the fish. As soon as it swims over the predator, it jerks the fish right by the vulnerable belly. And then he drags it towards him and, tearing it with his claws, eats it. Sometimes he comes across a big fish that he can’t catch so easily. Then Trionics chooses a different tactic: it bites through the fish’s belly with lightning speed, tearing out the entire abdominal wall, and when the wounded victim tries with all his might to swim away, he rushes in pursuit and bites again and again. And it will pursue until the fish sinks to the bottom in convulsions.
Aquatic turtles use powerful jaws not only for hunting, but also for protection: if you carelessly pick up a trionix, it can bite until you bleed.
The turtle has one Trionics convenient feature, which allows him to breathe without sticking his head to the surface of the water, is the nasal passages elongated with a tube. Having settled at the bottom, Trionix exposes only the tubes of his nostrils, while his eyes vigilantly monitor what is happening under water.
An excellent swimmer, trionics lies in wait for its prey, burrowing into the mud and exposing only its head to the surface. While waiting for prey, the turtle remains motionless for a long time. At this time, she breathes through her skin, like amphibians. Trionix has a flat shell covered with skin; there are no horny scales on the limbs and head, so the surface of contact with water is very large.
Another predator living in shallow waters tropical forests South America, - matamata, or fringed turtle.

Pictured is a fringed turtle, matamata

Its triangular head and long neck are covered with a number of scalloped leathery flaps; its brownish, lumpy shell gives it a surprising resemblance to a piece of algae-covered wood or a piece of bark. Waiting for prey, the matamata sits completely motionless in the water, occasionally sticking out its sharp proboscis, at the end of which there are nostrils. Mistaking the “fringe” for worms or algae, fish, frogs or tadpoles swim close to its snout. At this moment, the mouth opens and the prey is drawn into it along with the water.
Another amazing underwater hunters live in the tropics - vulture turtles. They apparently got their name from the growth of horny jaws directly under the nostrils, reminiscent of the curved beak of a vulture predator. This “beak” acts as a tooth when the turtle hunts fish. Having settled on the shallows, the turtle opens its mouth wide. Its mucous membrane is gray in color, and only a small outgrowth of the tongue is colored bright pink color. It is this worm-like outgrowth, wriggling, that attracts hungry fish, which the turtle immediately grabs.

SEA TURTLES
Sea turtles live in the tropics and subtropics, rarely swimming into temperate latitudes. On land they are slow and clumsy, but in the sea, quickly flapping their flippers like wings, they accelerate to 36 km/h!
In terms of adaptability to existence in the open ocean, sea turtles can compete with penguins in birds and pinnipeds in mammals. Their limbs are flippers, and breathing in the depths of the sea is carried out through the blood vessels that permeate them. internal surfaces mouth and pharynx.
There are 7 species of sea turtles. Their body, as expected, is protected by a shell of bone plates covered with horny scutes. The only exception is the leatherback turtle; it has no scutes, and non-fused bony plates are covered with a thick layer of skin.
Although these turtles live in the sea, the females are forced to crawl ashore to lay their eggs. This usually happens at night. With great difficulty, the turtle moves along the sand, digs a hole with its flippers, lays eggs in it (50-200 eggs, and the leatherback turtle - more than 1000), sprinkles them with sand and returns to the water. From one to three months, the eggs develop in warm sand. The hatched turtles (weighing 20 g) are quite nimble, but their shells are soft, and when they run to the sea, only the luckiest have a chance to reach it. Most fall prey to stray dogs birds of prey and other lovers of easy prey.
Scientists have discovered that in sea turtles, the sex of the offspring depends on the temperature at which the eggs are incubated. For example, if it is below 28 °C, only males hatch from green turtle eggs, if higher - only females. This feature is used by people who breed turtles.
Turtles lay their eggs on the same beach every year. They head to these places, even if this requires traveling thousands of kilometers of ocean space. Why sea turtles flock specifically to their native beaches is still a mystery to science. It is not yet known whether they navigate by the sun or by the salinity of the water. Like other migratory species, sea turtles have magnetite (iron oxide) crystals found in their bodies, possibly allowing them to sense the Earth's magnetic field. Apparently, near the coast they use other “signs”: the direction of the waves, the position of the moon in the sky, the contour of the bottom.
The leatherback turtle is the heaviest of the turtles, with specimens weighing 950 kg known. The body is enclosed in what is called false shell covered in smooth, shiny leather. It feeds on fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae, and sea grass. He loves jellyfish, but it is dangerous for a turtle to get involved with them nowadays - you can grab them by mistake plastic bag(there are a lot of them floating in the sea) and suffocate. Sea turtles are suffering from pollution and people's increasing use of sandy beaches. Turtles have nowhere to breed.

Pictured is a leatherback turtle

Wandering in tropical waters oceans, it sometimes swims to the Far Eastern shores of Russia. As well as green turtle, the leatherback lays its eggs on land where it once hatched, and is therefore exposed to the same dangers as other sea turtles. Thanks to efforts to protect it, it is now possible to keep the number of leatherback turtles within 100 thousand individuals.
Green (soup) turtle. She cruises along east coast America from Caribbean Sea to Canada. Lays eggs in hot equatorial zone, and then swims to look for food in cooler waters. Sometimes both males and females come out to bask on the beaches.
The Green Soup Turtle was once the most abundant turtle in Atlantic Ocean and its seas. When at the very beginning of the 16th century. Columbus crossed the Caribbean Sea, giant herds of turtles blocked the path of his caravels. Now, where it was once difficult to navigate a ship through a continuous mass of shells, it is not easy to find even a single turtle. Like the giant land tortoises of the Galapagos and Seychelles islands, green turtles served as reliable food for people who wandered under sail for long periods of time in the ocean waves. Sailors salted and dried their meat or loaded the turtles on board alive.
Green soup turtles are found everywhere where the water temperature does not drop below 20 ° C, but their permanent habitat is coastal waters, where rich “pastures” extend at a depth of 4-6 m. sea ​​mollusks and crustaceans. Green turtles also feast on animal food - fish. Such a giant cannot feed itself with low-calorie algae alone.
The creation of farms for the artificial hatching of turtles will help save turtles. On such farms, people not only strictly protect each clutch, but also help the little turtles get to the sea unhindered.
After mating in coastal waters, females crawl onto land beyond the surf line at night. As soon as a turtle finds itself on land, it immediately loses its agility and lightness: it drags its heavy body with difficulty, leaving a furrow in the wet sand. The turtle must crawl away from the tidal waves: if it lays eggs here, it will soon be flooded and the eggs will die.
Having passed the sandy beach, the turtle reaches the coastal grass. This is where the real work begins. With its hind legs, the turtle digs a rather deep hole in the damp sand and lays there from 70 to 200 spherical eggs in a leathery shell to a depth of about 20 cm. The record clutch of eggs that was discovered is 226 pieces.
Having buried its treasure, the turtle crawls around this place several more times, leveling the sand and hiding the nesting site from possible thieves. Such maternal care is not at all in vain, because with the onset of dawn, a variety of hunters appear on the small beach. And not only animals, but also local residents who go with large baskets to collect turtle eggs, so that they can later sell them at the market as a delicacy or have breakfast themselves.
Then the turtle makes several more clutches. The turtle, having done its job, lies exhausted on the sand: it is very tired, and there is still a long way to go back to depths of the sea. Dawn has barely broken and the turtle sets off on its journey. She is in a hurry - pushing with all her might with her flippers, getting closer to the tide every minute. The female does not hurry in vain, because the sun is destructive for the inhabitants of the sea: drying out delicate skin, it can quickly kill even a huge soup turtle.
Finally, with the tide, the turtle is carried away into the open sea. Raising her head, she casts her last glance towards the island, where she forever leaves her offspring, and disappears under water. Once upon a time, she herself hatched from an egg here...
A few weeks will pass and the turtles will emerge from the eggs. Turtles are in a hurry for a reason: they are small and vulnerable, their shells are so delicate that they cannot serve as protection from dangers. And there are a lot of them around: during the period of mass emergence of babies from eggs ashore, the most different predators. And the first ones to lie in wait for the babies are monitor lizards. They pick up the turtles and, throwing back their heads, swallow them alive. Seagulls circle over the beach - every now and then they fall to the ground and grab babies with their strong beaks. So not all turtles crawl to the water.
One turtle managed to reach its native element, but he lay down exhausted in order to rest at least a little before the final push. And then a beckoning crab crawls out from behind a stone. This cruel coastal hunter got its name for a reason: one of its claws is much larger than the other, with which it makes constant swings, as if marking the boundaries of its territory and luring in prey.
The crab immediately attacks the turtle - grabbing it with its claw, it pulls it towards itself in order to gnaw it with its powerful jaws. The baby resists with all his might, but only a miracle can save him. And it happens: another alluring crab, coveting its neighbor’s prey, decides to take possession of the tasty morsel. He crawls up and, opening his claw, grabs the enemy by the most vulnerable spot - the planted
on the eye stalk! The first crab did not expect the attack - it unclenches its claw and lets go of the turtle.
The little turtle, despite the bloody welt running across his right flipper, quickly dives into the surf, leaving the struggling crabs on the shore. Having made a few light movements with his flippers, our lucky guy is already soaring above the seabed, and the current carries him further and further from the familiar beach. More than one year will pass, and the instinct of procreation will force the already matured turtle to return back, no matter how far it swims, to leave a clutch of eggs in the damp sand. Baby turtles grow for at least six years before becoming adults.

Hawksbill or Caretta (Eretmoshelys imbricata). Distributed in tropical seas, occasionally reaching Europe. The length of the carapace is 60-90 cm. The carapace is flat, the front jaw protrudes forward above the lower one and is armed with a sharp tooth. On the dorsal carapace the scutes overlap each other, the carapace is brown with a beautiful yellow-spotted pattern. It feeds on mollusks, ascidians, arthropods, algae, and seeks food only in the sea.
Despite the durable shell, this type of turtle suffers more than all others. They are intensively harvested for their tasty meat and famous horny scutes - thick, beautiful and easy to process. They are mainly used to make frames for glasses, combs, jewelry, and boxes.

Sea turtles migrate across the ocean. The nature of migration depends on the type of turtle. For example, green and leathery are great travelers, but hawksbill is a homebody.
Loggerhead or loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta). These turtles stay near the coast, but can swim far out to sea. It is found in all tropical seas and often migrates to colder areas. Due to the fact that loggerhead eggs are considered a delicacy in many countries, the number of these turtles is steadily declining. Loggerhead horns are used to make combs and frames for glasses.
Turtles are favorite pets. Captured somewhere in Africa and Asia, few make it to Europe, often dying along the way. Therefore, it is best not to encourage this fishing and refuse to keep turtles at home.

Elephant turtle (Geochelone elephantopus)

Hawksbill (Eretmoshelys imbricata)

Any living creatures, including turtles, have their own instincts. Among all the main instincts, the main one can be distinguished - this is the instinct of procreation. Regardless of where the turtle is in nature or in captivity, this instinct is equally effective. Turtles regularly lay eggs, including unfertilized ones. They are called "diet".

1. If turtles of different sexes are kept at home, then upon reaching sexual maturity the female turtle will definitely lay eggs, and fertilized ones at that. As a result, they may hatch into small turtles.
2. This will happen a week after mating.
3. Even aquatic turtles crawl onto land to lay eggs, not to mention land turtles. Having made a small depression in the sand or soil, turtles lay their eggs there. If the soil is dry, then the turtle will definitely make it wet, since eggs can dry out if there is a lack of moisture.
   Under certain conditions, when moisture evaporates faster than necessary, even turtles that were able to develop in the shell may dry out. In this regard, the soil moisture in the place where the eggs are laid should be controlled. In the photo you can see the laying of eggs and their care.

1. After the turtle has laid its eggs, it returns to the sea and forgets about its offspring. This fact applies to almost all turtles. This means that the owner of the turtle will have to take care of the offspring.
2. After 2-3 months, with proper care of the masonry, offspring will appear in the form of small turtles.

For this miracle to take place, you need to inspect the eggs daily to identify spoiled ones. One rotten egg can ruin the entire clutch. To avoid doing this in an aquaterrarium, many experts advise moving the eggs to a special incubator, which can be seen in the photo.

Where are the eggs laid?

The turtle tries to lay eggs in places where they will be safe. Moreover, this place is located at a considerable distance from the turtle’s habitat. Basically, she lays her eggs in the sand. The fact is that it is easy to make a depression in the sand, especially since sand can hold both heat and moisture.

If the mating process is noticed, then it is better to pour a certain portion of sand into the terrarium (aquaterrarium) so that the turtle can lay eggs without much effort. Eggs are laid at a depth of 50 mm, so an island 100 mm high will definitely attract a female.

If a female lays eggs without a male, then they can be thrown away immediately, since there will be no offspring.

How to create the necessary conditions for the growth of offspring

The turtle's task is to lay eggs, but what comes out of them does not interest it. This suggests that the turtle does not have the instinct of a mother, so all worries about laying eggs, and then about the offspring, fall entirely on the shoulders of the turtle’s owner.

1. First of all, you should think about temperature conditions. Temperature environment together with the masonry should be optimal. If it is cold, turtles are unlikely to be born, just like when high temperatures, when eggs can turn into scrambled eggs. You need to install a lamp above the masonry itself, but not too close to the masonry, so that the temperature does not turn out to be too high.
2. An important factor is the humidity at the masonry site. Too much humidity can be just as dangerous as too little humidity.

To ensure that offspring are born, it is better to use an incubator. The process of caring for eggs is much simpler and makes it possible to monitor the development of each egg.

• In this case, you need to regularly inspect the clutch for frozen eggs.
• It is necessary to constantly monitor the position of the embryos. If you shine a flashlight through the eggs, you can easily determine its position. The normal position of the embryo is head up.

The advantages of the incubator are obvious. Not only can all the turtles be born, the process of their birth is accelerated. As for ordinary turtle clutches, there are very few guarantees of the birth of small turtles, especially if she laid her eggs in natural conditions.

Video “example of egg laying”

In all developed countries Charity and volunteering are common phenomena that are very popular. Most often, help is provided to those who cannot help themselves - animals, children, residents of third world countries, etc. However, in our country all this is just beginning to gain popularity. Volunteering by Russians in other countries is even less common. Not only few people know about this, but many simply cannot afford it - the fall in the ruble exchange rate, rising prices, expensive flights, and sometimes volunteering itself must be paid for.

Many people will ask: how do you pay for your own volunteering? The fact is that some projects are organized ordinary people with little income, they have no sponsors, and there are usually a lot of expenses, so the volunteers themselves bring the money. So it’s two in one: charity + volunteering. Anyone can find volunteer work according to their preferences: with children, with adults, with animals. I was looking for work with turtles.

Volunteer projects with turtles (mostly endangered ones) marine species) there are quite a few in the world, but the cheapest projects for flights are in Europe (Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Israel). I chose Greece, which has at least 3 animal protection organizations that accept volunteers in the summer. Some require presence in the camp for at least a month, which is not always convenient for a working person, but I managed to find the “Wild Life Sense” project on the Greek island of Kefalonia, not far from the more popular island of Zakynthos for Russians, where they take volunteers for a period of 2 weeks. Volunteer camps are usually open from early May to late September, but most best time- this is from mid-July to mid-August. It was at this time greatest number female turtles lay eggs and baby turtles begin to hatch from early May clutches.

I chose a shift from mid-July for two weeks, registered on the organization’s website, paid a fee of 480 euros, bought plane tickets and waited for departure. They sent me confirmation of payment and several PDF documents, which talked about what you can do in your free time on the island and what to take with you. "Wild Life Sense" has 3 camps on the island, I chose the one that was closer to the capital of the island - Argostoli.

I arrived there on July 10th. A volunteer girl in a branded T-shirt met me, took me to the camp itself, showed me my room, where I would live with the other three girls, and told me what was where. Most of the volunteers were from the UK, so everyone spoke English, even the guys and girls from France and Sweden. I, like other volunteers, were given T-shirts with the name of the camp and the words “Researcher” written on them. Having gotten to know other volunteers better (there were about 20 of them), I learned that there are elders in the camp (who have been here for more than a month or even a year), and most of the volunteers are university students who study biology or environmental protection and They use volunteering, including for writing scientific papers.

Every Sunday, a schedule for the week is posted, indicating what each volunteer will do in the morning and evening. Daytime usually free and one day in 2 weeks is given as a day off. The shifts are set up to include one of the senior or experienced volunteers at first so that he can explain to the newcomers what to do.

The work of volunteers includes: walking the beaches in the early morning to look for traces of turtles and nests, guarding the found nests and measuring them, counting the number of turtles in the port and recording their activity, measuring the level of light pollution on the beach and the height of the shore, night watch near the nests from which turtles should begin to hatch and help them get to the sea, moving nests to safer places if for some reason they are in danger. Also, once I had to help remove a fishing hook from the flipper of a turtle in the port, which was caught specifically for these manipulations and then released back. Unfortunately, I left before the turtles started hatching, but I still saw plenty of adult turtles and their nests, and even once managed to see a turtle late in the evening when it came ashore to lay eggs. Volunteers account for quite a bit of research and paperwork: everything needs to be measured, recorded, photographed, and then entered into the computer for further research and comparison of results.

And now a little about the turtles themselves in Greece. Of the existing 7 species of sea turtles, only two are found on the island of Kefalonia - the green turtle and the loggerhead turtle. But only loggerheads have been using the island's beaches to lay eggs for many years. Eggs are laid from May to August, and small turtles begin to hatch after about 60-80 days - from mid-July to the end of September. The population of turtles in the Mediterranean Sea is externally different from the populations of loggerheads in the United States, which is why they are interesting to researchers

Loggerhead sea turtles are predators; they mainly feed on jellyfish, crabs, and mollusks. They have very strong jaws, which will allow them to bite through shellfish shells and crab shells. Males and females are approximately the same size and reach approximately 70-109 cm. The weight of turtles is about 90-160 kg. Loggerheads can reach speeds of up to 24 km/h in water, but are very slow on land. These turtles live from 30 to 62 years (average 33 years). Turtles usually sleep 4 hours a day under water, in which they can remain all this time without even surfacing to breathe. Loggerheads can dive to a depth of 233 m, and during migration swim up to 4828 km.

Turtles see well in water and poorly on land, but in case of danger, noise or light on the shore, the female immediately returns to the sea instead of laying eggs, so turtles that have come ashore should not be disturbed. It is best to use a flashlight with a red light, it is least noticeable to turtles and does not bother them, and, of course, you cannot make noise. And for photographing and riding sea turtles in many countries of the world you can be sent to prison and receive a fairly large fine.

Sea turtles do not retract their flippers into their shells and use their rear fins to steer and row with their front fins. Each turtle has its own unique pattern of scutes on its head (top and side). It is almost impossible to determine the sex of small turtles visually (this applies to all types of turtles). But in adult individuals this is quite easy to do - in males it is very thick and a long tail and on the front flippers there is one large and curved claw. These claws are needed to cling to the female during mating. Female loggerheads have a small triangular tail and small claws. Only sea turtles have one claw on their flippers; Australian pig-snouted turtles living in brackish water have two claws, so they are often called two-clawed, and in Russia Far East Trionics live - three-clawed turtles that differ long neck and a skin-covered shell. Other types of turtles, both land and freshwater, have 4-5 claws, depending on the species.

In Greece, turtles lay up to 3-7 thousand nests annually. On the island of Kefalonia in 2014, “Wild Life Sense” counted 76 nests, in 2015 - 91. One turtle makes 3-4 clutches during the nesting season with an interval of 2 weeks. On average, there are about 80-100 eggs in a clutch; they are buried at a depth of 20 to 50 cm. Turtles most often hatch at night, emerging in small groups for 2-6 days. Incubation temperature affects the sex of turtles. Above 29 C, females will be born, below - males. Only 80% of turtles reach the sea and only one in a thousand will survive to adulthood and return to the same region to procreate. Few people know, but turtle eggs cannot be turned over, otherwise the embryos in them may die, and small turtles cannot be immediately taken to the sea - they must walk the path to the sea themselves in order to remember the location of the shore, where they will return as adults to lay their eggs.

Why do sea turtles need human protection? At one time, people greatly reduced the population of sea turtles by eating their eggs and themselves, and this despite the abundance of predators that lie in wait for newborn turtles on the way to the sea and in the sea itself: birds, dogs, crabs, large fish etc. Because of human fishing activities, hundreds of turtles die, getting caught in nets or being injured by hooks and boats. Beach tourism and construction are destroying beaches where turtles could lay their eggs. I myself have seen how most of the beach with good sand is occupied by sun loungers for vacationers, and they are not taken away at night when the turtles come out to lay their eggs, so the poor reptiles get patches of beach where there are no Better conditions for masonry.

Volunteering is not only communication with animals and new people, practicing English and a lot of new impressions, it is also hard work when you have to get up early, walk or ride a bike a lot in the heat, dig holes for a long time in search of eggs, so that later in the right place a barrier. But any hardships are compensated by what you hold in your hands new life, and that your actions will help these beautiful living creatures not disappear from planet Earth.