Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index A baby Loggerhead sea turtle Sea turtles are large, ocean-dwelling turtles. There are seven species of sea turtle, and they are all endangered: loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) Australian flatback turtle (Natator depressus) hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) Kemp's ridley turtle (Lepidochelys kempii) Every two or three years, female sea turtles return to the land to nest, usually on the same beach from which they hatched. They make from four to seven nests per nesting season. They dig a hole with their hind flippers and lay from 100 to 150 eggs in it (depending on the species) before covering it up and returning to the ocean. Some of the eggs are unfertilised 'dummy eggs' and the rest contain young turtles. When the eggs hatch, these baby turtles dig their way out and seek the ocean. Only a very small proportion of them (at most 1 in 100) will be successful, as many predators are waiting to eat them. External links Turtle Trax Dedicated to Hawaiian green turtles Sea Turtle, Inc. - Kemp's ridley nesting protection, Padre Island National Seashore sea turtle images This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.