Caretta sea turtle. The road of life. Birth of sea turtles. Caretta caretta. National Marine Park in Zakynthos

Loggerhead or loggerhead turtle (lat. Caretta caretta) - another representative of the family sea ​​turtles, which has been greatly damaged by human activity. You can meet him in the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In addition, loggerheads are frequent visitors to the Mediterranean Sea and have even visited Russian territory a couple of times - they have been seen in the Barents Sea, in Peter the Great Gulf and in the Kerch Strait.

Like the hawksbill turtle, this turtle has a heart-shaped shell, only its size is slightly larger - on average from 90 to 110 cm, and the largest loggerhead had a carapace 122 cm long. Its color can be olive, red-brown or brown. The lower part - the plastron - is of a lighter shade.

The loggerhead's head is quite large (it's not called the loggerhead turtle for nothing!). It is round and short, with a massive jaw, with the help of which the turtle crushes the strong shells and shells of its inhabitants depths of the sea. The upper part of the head is covered with large scutes; near the eyes there are two pairs of prefrontal scutes. There are also 5 pairs of costal scutes on the back of the turtle. Its front paws have blunt claws. Interestingly, the male is quite easy to distinguish from the female by the presence of a long tail.

Loggerheads live almost all the time at sea. They even sleep on the surface of the water, slowly drifting after the current. Mating also occurs here - sometimes with one, and sometimes with several partners. Pregnant females swim to the shore, wait until it gets dark, and only then come to the surface to lay eggs.

The largest number of nesting loggerhead turtles can be seen on Masirah Island in Oman - according to rough estimates, there are at least 30 thousand of them. In addition, loggerheads also liked the coast of Florida - 6-15 thousand females nest here. Many turtles come ashore in Australia.

flickr/paulmichaels79uf

There are usually at least a hundred eggs in one clutch. The incubation period lasts from 47 to 61 days. Little turtles do not immediately get out of the hole - they sit in the sand for some time and gain strength. And they will need strength, because they need to have time to get to the ocean, avoiding meeting with seagulls, crabs and other predators who have gathered for lunch.

However, this danger is not so terrible for the species as a whole - nature has provided for everything, which is why one adult turtle makes at least 4-5 clutches per season. That's just taste preferences She couldn’t take the person into account. And although the meat of the loggerhead is tasteless, and its shell is not suitable for making souvenirs, the loggerhead turtle still found something to please people with - its eggs.

What they didn’t cook with them! They added it to confectionery products and made delicious desserts. And in Cuba, they generally preferred not to wait for the turtle to lay eggs, and they caught pregnant females in order to smoke their eggs directly in the oviducts, and then sell them as a kind of sausages.

Unfortunately, the result of such activity is quite predictable - loggerheads are included in the Red Book, where the status of their species is assessed as vulnerable. National laws Greece, Cyprus, the USA and Italy protect loggerhead turtles, and the collection of their eggs is prohibited almost throughout the world.

Zakynthos(Greek island in the Ionian Sea) is famous not only for its bay Navagio. It is often called "turtle island" - the most big turtles cartetta-cartetta was chosen Zakynthos. This island has become a kind of maternity hospital and nursery for turtles.

Zakynthos- the largest nesting site for Loggerhead turtles in the Mediterranean Sea.

A little about carriage-caretta turtles

The Caretta turtle is the most well-studied sea turtle; adults weigh from 77 to 160 kg and reach a length of 80 to 115 cm.

Loggerhead (loggerhead sea turtle)

Loggerhead turtles have become an endangered species and main reason This trend is mass tourism in their nesting areas.
Water pollution and fishing activities also contributed.

Female coach turtles reach sexual maturity at about 30 years of age and return to the place where they were born to mate and lay eggs. 80% of turtles return to Zakynthos. Turtles nest once every 2-3 years.
The turtles hatch after about two months, at night, and immediately go to the sea.

Happy Birthday Baby!

Newborn turtles are approximately 4.5 cm long and weigh 20 grams. Only those that reach the open sea survive.

Good luck!

Only one in 1,000 cubs survives to reach sexual maturity.

The beginning of a long life

National Marine Park in Zakynthos

To preserve the turtle population in Zakynthos was founded in 1999 National Marine Park. Its main task is to preserve the ecosystem and create conditions for increasing the population of Caretta Caretta turtles.
Part National Park includes 6 beaches of Laganos Bay, small islands Marathonissi And Peluso.
About 3,000 turtle nests appear here every year, which are monitored by park staff and volunteers.

Turtle nests on the beaches of Laganos

Not only turtles, but Mediterranean seals monachus-monachus are under close attention.

Where can you see turtles?

The easiest and most harmless (for nature) way is to visit the island in May - June. At this time, turtles swim to mate and swim very close to the shore. Most of them flock to the beaches of the bay Laganos. A turtle swimming nearby is not uncommon during this period.

In May - June, turtles swim very close to the shore

Throughout beach season from anywhere on the island you will be offered boat trips on glass-bottomed boats, yachts, and speedboats, during which you will be able to see turtles.

Another popular way is an excursion to the island Marathonissi: There are not only two excellent beaches (sandy and pebble), but also numerous turtle nests (therefore, there are many adult turtles in the coastal waters). The island is part of National Marine Park.

Marathonissi

Rules for tourists on the beaches of Zakynthos

On those beaches Zakynthos, which are located on the territory of the National Marine Park, there are a number of rules that all tourists must follow (all of them are aimed at preserving the turtle population):

• night stay on the beach is prohibited - turtles usually hatch at night;
• At night, you cannot use any sources of artificial lighting on the beach or near it (lamps, car headlights, etc.) - turtles use moonlight on the water as a guide, extraneous light sources lead them astray;
• It is strictly forbidden to leave trash on the beach - plastic bag can kill not only baby turtles, but also adults if they fall into the sea;
• You cannot ride bicycles, scooters, etc. on the beaches;
• in places designated as egg laying, sunbeds, umbrellas, and awnings cannot be installed;
• It is prohibited to use motor boats and speedboats in the Gulf of Laganos;
• it is advisable to be located no further than 5 meters from the water's edge - further away there may be masonry;
• sand castles and other structures can only be made near the surf and do not forget to destroy them before leaving - they can become an insurmountable obstacle for the turtles;
• on the beaches you can’t make noise, play with a ball or rackets, relaxation here is passive (it’s better to go to the beaches of Mykonos for fun).

There are staff present on the beaches National Marine Park and volunteers. They will always tell you what you can and cannot do, listen to them!

It is strictly prohibited to dig up a clutch of eggs; this is punishable by law.

Zakynthos very popular among tourists all over the world. Hundreds of thousands of tourists vacation here every year and this leads to a catastrophic deterioration in the situation with turtles. It is within the power of each of us to ensure that out of a thousand, not just one or two turtles survive, but more.

A species of sea turtle regularly observed: Caretta-Caretta, Caretta-Caretta turtles are on the list of endangered animals. The fact is that for a long time they were considered a delicacy not only in Far East, but also in some European countries(for example, France and Italy).
These marine reptiles have lived on Earth for 95 million years. Adult turtles reach sizes of 115-150 cm, while their weight is about 70-90 kg.....
The Caretta Caretta lays eggs only once every two to three years. Turtles go out onto the sand and, using their hind legs, dig several holes, then, choosing, in their opinion, the most suitable one, they lay eggs there. One turtle can dig up to 80-100 holes, but it will lay all its eggs in only one of them. The process of laying eggs lasts for hours and experts say that the female turtle positive emotions at this moment he does not experience it at all.
This tedious procedure for turtles lasts about 60 days (from May to July). And from July to September small turtles begin to appear. They say that males are displayed at a temperature of 28.5 ° C, but for feminine warmth more is required - 32 °C.
Cubs hatched on the appointed day
Moreover, they say that they still need to sit in the sand for 26 hours, which is probably why the supervisors feel the place of masonry so carefully - the palm goes vertically into the sand in several places in turn.

If there is “something suspicious”, they use their palms to scoop it horizontally to the sides - in layers.

Probably for fear of hurting the kids who decided to get out on their own :)

If they don’t find anything, they bury everything again, make the appropriate notes in their notebook and place a wire frame over the masonry - until next time.

Yes, so the kids get out of the hole and, guided by the moon, head towards the sea, carried away by instinct. During the period when small turtles are hatching from eggs, it is forbidden to kindle a fire or light a light, because it can deceive the hatchlings and they will go astray. They should have time to get to the water before dawn and the heat sets in. Those who are late are destroyed by the hot rays of the sun or end up as food for birds. One of their most dangerous enemies on earth is the fox. Of course, even once at sea, the cubs cannot be considered completely safe. Having not reached a certain size, they serve as tasty food for fish.
Instinct leads adults back to the place where they were born. Having hatched in one place, they return there in order to give life to a new generation.
There are 17 beaches in Turkey where sea turtles lay their eggs, among them the most important are, for example, Iztuzu, Patara, the Gösu River delta, Belek - all of them have the status of protected areas.

I actually disagree about Belek, but it’s not for me to judge.
Well, we came here knowing that Caretta breeds here and that we need to run in the morning (we’ve read too much, but what about sh!) to the beach and peer at the people walking past.

Oga. Only when we went out to the beach, we completely forgot about it - after all, it’s a sea! It's half past six in the morning and very warm. And the sea is gentle and the air is warm and my temperature has been 38.2 since yesterday.

And here, literally 25 meters from us, it is obvious. And we are in water up to our chests.
In general, they caught us by surprise, but we grabbed our cameras and ran :)
And there, special guys write down in a special notebook how many pieces from which hole number when they got out.

An assortment of people lined up in two ranks and cheered with the very welcoming cries of the kids, of which there were four.

The guys shout at the onlookers so that they don’t inadvertently disturb them :) They chased me away when I was standing half a meter to the side of the highway - you never know, maybe the kid wants to turn?

In general there were four supervisors. What about the bullshit? Responsible work!
One takes notes.

One - with an important plaque on his chest, like, the main one.

He makes all the decisions about all the movements of the supervisors in the turtle case.
One - raises and lowers and, if necessary, carries into a common pile no longer needed wire frames, which are installed above the masonry while the baby is still in the sand.

And he also carries a bucket.
One - I don’t know why, probably for company.
The bucket is a separate issue: we watched four kids moving towards the water. One of them was very weak. At all:(
They put it in this very bucket. They probably took it to the turtle cemetery :(

While the turtles are crawling towards the water (and it’s funny, the closer they are to the water, the faster they run, they even jump :) it feels like they feel it, even though they were born just a few minutes ago :)), the supervisors are busy with a very important task: they carefully dig up masonry - them former house, everyone checks to see if there is anything left there, they count the peels, put them back and bury the masonry.

And they don’t go anywhere until the turtles swim away :)

And even if a turtle, which itself is still the size of 3/4 of a cigarette pack, turns over, falling off a pebble on the beach, it doesn’t need help; a specially trained guy helps it in some strange, but probably more in an effective way: he doesn’t turn her over, he puts his finger on her, helping her tighten her little snares and turn herself over :)

As soon as the baby finally and confidently floats away, they collect their things and go to the next clutch.
The whole crowd is behind them.

While vacationing in the fabulous country of Turkey, we, unexpectedly, gave birth to a turtle with the beautiful name Caretta-Caretta ( Caretta - Caretta ). It happened on a warm moonlit night on the shore Mediterranean Sea in the village of Kizilot.

Of course, we knew that on some Turkish beaches you can meet these sea beauties. On our beach we even saw a special prohibitory sign with a turtle in a human hand - they say you can’t handle baby turtles.

There were rumors among our hotel guests that if you walk along the beach at night, you can see huge turtles. We decided to check the rumors and one night we went looking for a miracle. Shined in the sky full moon, and the sea was unusually calm. We walk along a deserted sandy beach, enjoying the sound of the sea surf. And suddenly, our path was blocked by a clear wide trail on the wet sand, leading from the sea deep into the beach, as if a small armored car had passed by. We followed the trail carefully and suddenly, from behind a small thorny bush, something came out to meet us. Her Majesty the turtle Carriage-Carriage was approaching us importantly and sedately. To be honest, at first we were a little scared, but then curiosity suppressed the fear, and we began to look at a one and a half meter stranger dressed in a shiny brown shell. She walked past us with dignity towards the sea, without even turning her large head with a characteristic beak in our direction. By the way, these turtles are also called Loggerheads (which means “big-headed”). These turtles received this name due to their rather large head with a massive jaw, thanks to which they chew their dinner - crustaceans and sea urchins. Having come to our senses, we barely had time to take a couple of pictures, after which the lady in the shell disappeared into the depths of the sea.

Discussing what we saw, we did not even imagine that an even more interesting meeting awaited us ahead.And here again is the familiar trace of the armored car. We follow it... and see her. We carefully approach closer, the turtle does not move from its place and lets us get very close.

We squat down next to her and realize that the lady in the shell is sitting in a hole specially dug in the sand.
- She lays eggs! - we guess, not believing our eyes.

In response to our silent delight, the turtle sighs heavily. And then there is a breathing sound, which every woman who has been in the delivery room knows at least once. Only here, unlike the maternity room, there are no midwives, no painkillers... but only a bright moon, a sand hole dug with one’s own hand (or one’s own) and random witnesses with cameras.

God! We're disturbing her! We need to get out of here immediately! - conscience whispers to us.
But curiosity binds our arms and legs, and we cannot budge. With our mouths open, with our hearts beating wildly, we look under the tail of the woman in labor and become witnesses to the miracle of the birth of a new life! A snow-white round egg, like a tennis ball, appeared and fell into the sand hole, then another... and another. IN total we counted more than 30 eggs. The sacrament lasts for more than an hour, but we seem to have fallen out of temporary space.
After all the testicles are at the bottom of the hole, the turtle, having rested a little, begins to bury its treasure. Now freezing, now coming to life, she spins on her perch for about thirty minutes, carefully covering it with sand and compacting it with her front flippers.

It is done! Mother, with a sense of accomplishment, turns to the sea and crawls into the light of the moonlit path. We look stunned after this beauty. Only now I was able to see that the turtle was not young at all. Shells had grown on her well-worn shell; one of them even managed to cling to the turtle’s beak. A relative of dinosaurs moves her wrinkled flippers with difficulty and looks through us with expressive, wise eyes. But here comes the sea, once... and the overweight turtle turns into an elegant sea butterfly and swims away...

Goodbye Caretta-Caretta... Thank you for the miracle and forgive me if something is wrong...
Meanwhile, the mystery continues in the treasured sand hole. After seven weeks, the eggs will hatch into baby turtles. The length of the baby's shell will be only 40-50 mm. They will have to free themselves from sand captivity (the depth of the nest is at least 0.5 meters). And then, guided by the moonlight, go to the sea, which will replace their mother, because they are unlikely to ever meet their own mother. It is interesting that these babies, having matured, can swim through the seas and oceans, but they return to lay their eggs on this beach in Kizilot, where they themselves were born.
Unfortunately, today these amazing turtles are becoming fewer and fewer and they are listed in the Red Book. Having lived on Earth for more than 95 million years, outliving the dinosaurs, these majestic sea reptiles cannot cope with progress. For a long time They were offended because turtle eggs were considered a tasty delicacy. Today turtles are being harmed by tourists. Often, hatched turtles, confusing the moonlight with the brighter light of hotels and discos, run in the opposite direction from the sea and... accordingly, die either from predators, or from the scorching Turkish sun, or from tourists.
Well, let’s wish our godchildren, who were born on July 15, to successfully hatch from their testicles, get out of the sand nest and get to the sea. A bright moonlit path to you kids and a calm sea!

This little one Turkish Venice we visited this year.

"Dalyan" means fishing in Turkish.

There are also a lot of legends about the river. One of them is about twins, a boy and a girl. About how the girl Biblios fell in love with her brother Kaunos. When she revealed her feelings, her brother had to leave the city. A girl, out of unrequited love, decides to die, throw herself off the biggest cliff. But the goddesses of spring waters do not allow the girl to die. They turn the girl into the Dalyan spring.

The place is actually very beautiful.

Of course the weather that day was rainy. This one was a bit unlucky. The excursion costs 65 euros. We bought it at the hotel from tour operators. But outside the hotel it is 2 times less. It took 3.5 hours to get to this picturesque place. The price of the tour included meals.

1. Blue crab fishing

This is where we caught blue crab. For bait.

We caught these beauties, we could take pictures with them, and then release them into the wild. Back to sea. After fishing, we were offered a crab lunch for an additional fee. When we bought the tour, we were told that a crab lunch was included in the price. But it turned out differently. For one serving 7 cu. + drinks and beer were also paid.

They taste sweet, tender, juicy, well, very tasty. (You could also make a wish).

After such lunch we went to look at the Caretta-Caretta turtles. And suddenly we hear from the guide... That you may not see turtles.

On the way to the turtles we admired:

2. Lycian tombs

Another name is "Royal Tombs". It’s beautiful, of course the tombs are empty. But an architectural monument.

And so we arrived at the habitat of turtles... And in reality we did not see any of them. Maybe the weather was bad.

3. Visiting turtles

We didn’t see any turtles, but we visited one of the most the most beautiful beaches iztuzu. Where is the Aegean Sea.

Sunbeds were also paid, and for some reason no one told us about this either. But the weather wasn't too good. Therefore, it was not possible to swim in the sea.