Sea turtles have long been dying out or threatened and there are only seven kinds of sea turtles left in the world, because of hunting and pollution. However the population of sea turtles just jumped at San Diego’s SeaWorld.
Approximately 82 eggs hatched in October. Prior to this the last successful hatching took place at SeaWorld in 2003 but there were only 21 sea turtles. Park staff had incubated the eggs to try and increase the chances of hatching and after 21, staff felt they were victorious.
Anyhow this time around the Park Staff opted not to incubate them and let mother nature do its thing. The baby sea turtles hatched on Shipwreck Beach with no any assistance from park staff. The turtles hatched on October 5 from ping pong sized eggs. Since, the babies have been gradually developing and will be on display at the park before 2010.
Seeing as so many eggs hatched this year at SeaWorld the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will establish whether the new turtles stay at SeaWorld and if the turtles will be allowed to mate again next year. There are already 30 adult sea turtles at the park including three green females and one male. These adults range in age between 40 and 50 but they normally live to be over 100 years.
These turtles are in their peak for reproduction which means SeaWorld doesn’t know if these baby turtles are from the same mother or several. All three females had buried eggs in the sand on the beach. Subsequently in order to determine who the mother is, the baby sea turtles will be undergoing hereditary testing. Staff will also be digging up Shipwreck Beach in order to see how many eggs didn’t to hatch.
Little is known about sea turtles but experts know they mate in the water, then go up onto the beach. While on the sand the female will dig three different holes in order to trick predators but they end up laying their eggs in a single hole.
The nest in the sand normallycan hold between 100 and 120 eggs. Then the eggs develop in the sand for three months. While the eggs are incubating, the temperature of the sand determines the gender of each baby.. The babies when they hatch only weigh a few grams but can weigh in at 250 pounds by the age of 20. The babies live on squid, krill, shrimp, and special pellets provided by the staff.
Although there are only seven species of sea turtles and they are all in danger of extinction or threatened; these babies will help make a bounce back. Since humans are the biggest problem for this species it will take a lot in order to be removed from the endangered list but sea turtles are gradually making their way back.
Diane Johnson earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Utah. She likes to write about the news, politics, online degree programs, Distance Learning, and the college experience.