r/seaturtles • u/Rare-Tomatillo-3831 • 12h ago

Sea Turtle Photo/Video Green Sea Turtle feeding off a rocky Maui Shoreline.

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Sea Turtles

r/seaturtles

A community for seaturtle appreciation, education, conservation, and photos/videos.

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Sea turtle nesting season is from March to October, and you can help (:

Please don't walk down the beach with flashlights. If you live or are staying ocean-side, keep the lights off or the shades drawn. When baby sea turtles hatch at night, they follow the brightest light source (the moon) out to the ocean. If there are brighter, artificial lights, the babies will follow these instead and go the wrong way. Do not shine a flashlight in a sea turtle's face, or use flash-photography: it can scare the females and cause them to stop laying their eggs. If you happen upon a turtle making her nest, remain a safe distance away and be a stealthy voyeur. Please don't spook the turtles.
IF YOU FIND A SICK OR INJURED SEA TURTLE, DO NOT RIDE IT. If it has beached itself in the daytime, and is not going back out to sea, it is likely sick or injured. Call DNR, your local wildlife agency or stranding hotline; nearly all sea turtles are endangered and protected. I've seen police officers help an injured cormorant- call anybody. Call someone of this nature if you find baby sea turtles that are in a parking lot, etc. Simply stay out of the turtle's way if it is heading towards the ocean. That's where they belong.
Don't touch the sea turtle eggs if you find a nest. Don't disturb the turtle tracks, because it can be useful information to researchers. You can join your local sea turtle conservation team and do a beach sweep, where you not only pick up litter (well-known in sea turtles deaths), but also help locate new nests. The nests are usually marked and researched to help your local population thrive. Sea turtles find their way back to the same beach where they were born (or within close proximity) to lay their eggs as adults. Naturally placed, undisturbed nests have a higher rate of survival, as opposed to nests that are relocated. Only about 1 in 1,000 sea turtles make it to adulthood.