Leather Back Turtles - Amelia and Alex

Yesterday night was so fun! We took a two hour taxi drive with six people, not including Grampa Griff and Nana Cheryl, to go and see the leather back turtles, the largest reptile on earth lay their eggs.

When we got there we stood right next to this huge turtle and watched it smooth out the sand to get to the moist sand and dig its hole. As soon as it was about to lay its eggs, it left since there were to many people around and it didn't feel comfortable.

We moved along the beach and we found some baby turtle hatchlings making the long trek to the ocean and we thought they were the only three but we followed their trail and we watched 16 more crawl out of the sand. We helped the ones that actually survived to the sea by making a smooth path in the sand with our hands for them to crawl on. We were able to pet the tiny turtles as they crawled. Four of them had got dehydrated and died.

We moved on to a mama turtle. She had accidently dug her nest in clay so while we were watching the researchers had to catch the eggs and put them in a bucket and move them to a safer nest that was in sand so that in two months they could come out. After she finished having her eggs, we got to touch her back. She felt just like leather. At the end we went in the car two hours back and then in the dinghy to the boat.

Quick Facts by Alex

• The Leather back turtles are the largest reptile in the world
• They can also grow up to 12 feet.
• They can way up to 2000 pounds.
• They are known for their eggs.
• They lay up to 120.
• There is yoked eggs which turn in to turtles and the others don’t.
• They baby hatchlings swim for 72 hours once they reach the ocean.
• They can dive down 3900 feet.
• Every two years they come back to the same beach to lay their eggs.
• They lay eggs six times a year.