There are eight species of the sea: loggerhead sea turtles, Green sea turtles, leatherback sea turtles, Australian flat backs, Olive ridley, Kemps ridley, black sea turtles, and the hawksbill sea turtle.
The loggerhead sea turtles can be found on the shore of SC. Loggerhead sea turtles got their name because of the block-like head they have. Their heads can grow ten inches wide!
Green sea turtles’ shells are not really green! The name comes from their body fat, yuck! They can grow to be four feet and can weigh up to 500 pounds! Although they are endangered you can find green sea turtles on the Flordia coast!
Leatherback sea turtles are the biggest sea turtles. Leatherbacks can weigh up to be 2,000 pounds and reach lengths to nine feet! They are called leatherbacks because instead of shells they’re carapace(the shell) on their backs is tough, like leather!
Australian flat backs are not bigger than the leatherback, but they’re mid-sized. They can weigh up to 200 pounds! They feast on sea cucumbers, jellyfish, and invertebrates, which are animals without a back bone.
Hawksbill sea turtles are only two feet smaller than an Australian flatback. They mostly weigh 150 pounds. Hawksbills get their name because their beaks are sharp like a hawks bill, and they can get their beaks in tiny spaces like hawks!
The smallest sea turtles are the olive ridley, and the kemps ridley. Olive ridleys
are really olive green. Cool, right! Kemps ridley are known as the most endangered sea turtles.
This is a picture of me with Palmer, a loggerhead sea turtle at the SC Aquarium's Sea Turtle Hospital.
This link has an ID chart that shows up close how to identify the sea turtles we talked about today
Sea Turtle ID
This link has awesome pics of sea turtles!
National Geographic Pictures of Sea Turtles
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