Do sea turtles have a permanent home?

By andreinapatino16

Have you ever wondered "do sea turtles have a permanent home?". We are so used to seeing these majestic creatures on TV wandering in the ocean with apparently no aim. Luckily for you, after doing some research I've found the truth.

sea turtles do have places they consider home, they spend a lot of time in these places until it's time for nesting. There are a ton of species of sea turtles that live in the oceans all around the world, some of them migrate very long distances while the rest prefer to stay as close as possible to their homes.

Now let's take a look at where you can find each of these species:

7 Different species of turtles and their homes

Loggerhead Sea Turtle

 First of all, the famous loggerhead. These sea turtles are probably the ones that are seen more often. You can find these sea turtles in many places such as the Pacific ocean, Indian and Atlantic ocean, you can also find them in the Mediterranean sea. 

Green Sea Turtle

Next, we have green turtles. A fun fact about them is that green turtles represent one of the largest special of sea turtles that exist in the world. Also, they are probably the species that we see the most on TV. Similar to loggerheads, green turtles migrate long distances between their homes and their nesting sites. You can find green turtles in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific ocean.

Leatherback Sea Turtle

Leatherbacks are the next in line. They are the biggest sea turtles among the other species. They can be found around the east and west coasts of the United States, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and Hawaii, basically, you can find them in the tropical waters around the world.

Hawkbill Sea Turtle

The next species is hawksbills, they can be found in the tropical waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. These kinds of turtles don't like deep waters, they like to stay in coastlines.

Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle

Four species down, three more to go. It's time for Kemp's ridleys. A fun fact about them is that they are one of the smallest species of sea turtles. Kemp's ridleys can be found mostly in the Gulf of Mexico as well as in the western Atlantic.

Olive Riley Sea Turtle

Olive ridleys are next, these turtles like the beaches of Mexico and Colombia. Generally, they can be found in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian ocean.

Flatback Sea Turtle

Last but not least, flatbacks. Flatbacks are interesting creatures, their backs are really soft and sensitive, which means they can be easily damaged. The continental shelf of Australia is the place where flatbacks like to be, they love tropical waters with soft sea beds such as bays and lagoons.

Nesting sites

As for loggerheads, Masirah Island and the southeastern coast of the United States are considered the biggest nesting places.

Green turtles have Costa Rica and Australia as their favorite places to nest.

An interesting fact about leatherbacks is that they seem to have only one preferred place to nest, and that is the east coast of Florida, United States.

Similar to leatherbacks, hawksbill turtles like to nest only in Hawaii, specifically the east coast.

Kemp's ridleys nest in Tamaulipas, Mexico, and in Padre Island, located in Texas, United States.

Olive ridleys prefer to nest in Odisha, India, as well as the coasts of Mexico and Costa Rica.

Flatbacks nest in The Torres Strait, which is considered the biggest nesting site for these turtles, the main points are the Great Barrier Reef and Curtis Island.

Do sea turtles ever come back to their birthplace?

That's an interesting question, and the answer is a solid "Yes". They do, in fact, come back to the exact same beach they hatched from to nest. They must travel very long distances in order to nest, but how do they find their way back? Well, according to studies, sea turtles are able to find their way back by using the eath's magnetic field.

That's it! I hope you found this information useful, now you know that sea turtles do have homes but they also migrate long distances to nest. Plus, you now know about the different sea turtles species and where you can find them as well as the site in which they like to nest, thanks to this information you could learn more about sea turtles.