Blair and Dawn Witherington · fascinating facts · green sea turtle · learning · Needful Books and Things · Our Sea Turtles · Sea turtle ·

Sea Turtles

The thing that made me become unexpectedly smitten with Florida are the creatures I've encountered. Florida is teeming with wildlife. Even in built-up suburbs, I've had multiple gopher tortoises (land tortoises) visiting us over the years. I've witnessed (and assisted) many other versions of turtles like the ugly soft-shelled turtle and lots of other little and big pond turtles crossing a road on a mission to get somewhere. That also includes a very offended snapping turtle who high-tailed it to the retention pond once a kind passerby helped me lift him on to the sidewalk. Little dude ran faster than I ever expected a turtle to run.
A big treat to experience and encounter are the sea turtles. Since the state is ringed with beaches, there are many turtles who nest on these beaches. Primarily the green sea turtle and loggerhead. But this area also hosts leatherback, Kemp's Ridley, and Hawksbill turtles. Occasionally an Olive Ridley will come around.
I've seen the green sea turtles in the wild in the Florida Keys.

My dad was up early one morning camping at Flagler Beach and got to see little hatchling Green or Loggerheads making their way to the water.

A sea turtle was one of the first creatures I drew that reminded me of my experiences in Florida. As I was preparing to post about these interesting animals, I decided to do a little more than a cursory internet search for bits of information. I started reading books. I was going to skim the books, but I got lost in learning fascinating facts about these wondrous ectothermic marine animals and spent a whole month digesting only half of a book.

My local bookstore, Needful Books and Things, carries a lovely selection of books about Florida and I found the book that drew me into the rabbit hole of learning about sea turtles. Our Sea Turtles, by Blair and Dawn Weatherington is a delightful addition to my paper library.

The photograph of the turtle my art is based on is a juvenile green sea turtle (3-10 years of age) at the Grand Cayman turtle refuge. Well. I'm pretty sure it's a green sea turtle, I have a hard time telling the difference between the Loggerhead and Green sea turtle.

Fun facts about a sea turtle:

  • Their mouth is called a beak. (Like a bird!)
  • The bones in their flippers are called phalanges (like our fingers!)

  • Green sea turtles are the only herbivores of the sea turtles

  • A leatherback sea turtle can dive over 4,000 feet. That's over 1,500 feet more than the crush depth of a nuclear submarine. !! Their lungs condense from the size of a two-liter bottle of soda to a golf ball in this descent. Their heart rate slows to 1 beat per minute. And they live off of jelly animals.

  • Sea turtles "cry" to desalinize their systems

  • They see and hear better under water

  • They "see" the earth's magnetic field through a sense called magneto-reception. This is what enables them to return to their nesting beach 

  • Hatchlings go straight to the surf and swim for 36 hours. They spend their first decade at sea. 

And a few other lovely things I learned, the underwater grassy areas are called sea meadows and sea pastures. Such a fascinating world to continue to learn about explore!

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