Our Turtles

Kosgoda Beach hosts five species of sea turtles during nesting season. Green sea turtles are the most common, Olive Ridley, Hawksbill but Leatherback and Loggerhead turtles are also seen.

We want to help sea turtles and people to share our beaches. Although sea turtles have been around since the time ofthe dinosaurs, in our modern age most species of sea turtles have become endangered. This happened because people have built houses and Plastic on the beaches where ancient instincts bring the turtles to nest. In addition, other factors like lights, pollution, and fisheries have caused a decline in sea turtle population.

Olive Ridley

(Lepidochelys olivacea)

AGE: 5O years

WEIGHT : 50 kg

LENGTH: 70cm

EGGS: 100-160

The name for this sea turtle is tied to the color of its shell-an olive green hue. They are currently the most abundant of all sea turtles. Their vulnerable status comes from the fact that they nest in a very small number of places, and therefore any disturbance to even one nest beach could have huge repercussions on the entire population. Olive ridley sea turtles are considered the most abundant, yet globally they have declined by more than 30% from historic levels. (citation needed) These turtles are considered endangered because of their few remaining nesting sites in the world. The eastern Pacific turtles have been found to range from Baja California, Mexico, to Chile. Pacific olive ridleys nest around Costa Rica, Mexico, Nicaragua, and the northern Indian Ocean.

Hawksbill

(Eretmochelys imbricata)

AGE: 50 years

WEIGHT: 80 kg

LENGHT: 100 cm

EGGS: 96-177

Hawksbills are named for their narrow, pointed beak. They also have a distinctive pattern of overlap-ping scales on their shells that form a serrated-look on the edges. These colored and patterned shells make them highly-valuable and commonly sold as "tortoiseshell" in markets. Hawksbills are found mainly throughout the world's tropical oceans, predominantly in coral reefs. They feed mainly on sponges by using their narrow pointed beaks to extract them from crevices on the reef, but also eat sea anemones and jellyfish. Sea turtles are the living representatives of a group of reptiles that has existed on Earth and travelled our seas for the last 100 million years. They are a fundamental link in marine ecosystems and help maintain the health of coral reefs and sea grass beds.

Green Turtle

(Chelonia mydas)

AGE: 80 years

WEICHT: 190 kg

LENGTH: 112 cm

EGGS: ~100

The green turtle is one of the largest sea turtles and the only herbivore among the different species. Green turtles are in fact named for the greenish color of their cartilage and fat, not their shells. In the Eastern Pacific, a group of green turtles that have darker shells are called black turtles by the local community. Green turtles are found mainly in tropical and subtropical waters. Like other sea turtles, they migrate long distances between feeding groundsand the beaches from where they hatched. Classified as endangered, green turtles are threatened by overharvesting of their eggs, hunting of adults, being caught in fishing gear and loss of nesting beach sites.

Leatherback

(Dermochelys coriacea)

AGE: 100+ years

WEIGHT: 800 kg

LENGHT: 200 cm

EGGS: 60-90

Leatherback turtles are named for their shell, which is leather-like rather than hard, like other turtles. They are the largest sea turtle species and also one of the most migratory, crossing both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Pacific leatherbacks migrate from nesting beaches in the Coral Triangle all the way to the California coast to feed on the abundant jellyfish every summer and fall. Although their distribution is wide, numbers of leatherback turtles have seriously declined during the last century as a result of intense egg collection and fisheries bycatch. Globally, leatherback status according to IUCN is listed as Vulnerable, but many subpopulations (such as in the Pacific and Southwest Atlantic) are Critically Endangered

Loggerhead

(Caretta caretta)

Loggerhead turtles are named for their large heads that support powerful jaw muscles, allowing them to crush hard-shelled prey like clams and sea urchins. They are less likely to be hunted for their meat or shell compared to other sea turtles. Bycatch, the accidental capture of marine animals in fishing gear, is a serious problem for loggerhead turtles because they frequently come in contact with fisheries. Loggerheads are the most common turtle in the Mediterranean, nesting on beaches from Greece and Turkey to Israel and Libya. Many of their nesting beaches are under threat from tourism development. Sea turtles are the living representatives of a group of reptiles that has existed on Earth and travelled our seas for the last 100 million years. They are a fundamental link in marine ecosystems and help maintain the health of coral reefs and sea grass beds