Thursday, March 11, 2010

Sea Turtle Hatchlings Pack A Big Lunch


Sea turtles are very fascinating in the way that they have to fight for survival from the day they are born. They not only have to fight against the other predators, but also against the exhausting travel to the open deep sea. As many as 30 percent of the babies will die just on their journey to the sea. To understand exactly how much oxygen they use up during the travel to the sea the University of Queensland snatched up some eggs that were laid by the mother turtles. They than took these eggs and hatched them in a tank of their own where they monitored their activity as if they were swimming off to the deep sea. After 18 hours of their swimming the scientist came up with a very good estimate of exactly how much oxygen they used. "At first they swam relentlessly. But as time went on, they gradually slowed, until after about 12 hours they took an occasional break." After all this was done the scientists came up with the fact that the turtles do not have to have a meal for 2 weeks of being born.

3 comments:

  1. i always thought sea turtles were the most facinating creatures. They are in my opinion the stongest animals in the sea. They are fighting form the time their mother lays their eggs.

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  2. I never knew it took so much for baby sea turtles to survive. Its fascinating to know that they can go for two weeks without food after being born.

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  3. These creatures are so cute! I had learned once before that there is a lot to keep them alive and how much "process" there is for them to survive. They are strong willed and independent mates.

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