Climate change threatens sea turtles in a number of ways, including increase in sea level, which translates to the loss of nesting beaches; increase in global temperatures, which results in a skewed sex ratio in natural nests; and changes in the sea currents, which alters the distribution of their prey.
Turtles are quite different from other quadrupeds because their shells are a unique feature. Often, we might mistake these shells as their ‘homes’ or even as ‘deadweight’ that restrict their movement and make them sluggish. Today, it is widely accepted that their shells serve as armours that shield them from predators.
Even though sea turtles are aquatic animals, they must lay their eggs on sandy beaches to let their yet-to-hatch offspring breathe in oxygen. The structure of the egg allows for this to happen even when buried in sand.
Approximately 300 million tons of plastic are produced each year with 8 million tons of them being thrown into the open ocean, making up 80% of known debris in our waters.
If someone were to ask you what sea turtles eat, how would you answer? Do they eat small fishes? Or sea planktons? Are they herbivores or carnivores? Or perhaps they are omnivorous?
