SEA TURTLE LIFE CYCLE FOR KIDS (WITH PICTURE) - BIOLOGY - 2025

The life cycle of the turtle ranges from the hatching, through the time it spends swimming until it reaches adulthood, the reproduction stage and the laying of eggs. The tortoise goes through four main stages: hatchling, juvenile, adult, and elderly.

In the adult stage, sexual maturity is entered and eggs can be laid. For example, the loggerhead turtle, which lives in the Gulf of Mexico, enters sexual maturity between the ages of 17 and 23, when its shells measure just over 90 centimeters. Their life expectancy in the wild is 47-67 years.

Sea turtle life cycle.

It is said that after swimming there are several "lost" years in the life of a turtle. These years will be those that the turtle will dedicate to its physical development and growth. These are the most difficult years for scientists and biologists to track, since the movement of the turtle in the ocean is random and can travel great distances.

Sea turtles are part of the chelonioid (Chelonioidea) family and there are four species: the loggerhead turtle, the green turtle, the hawksbill turtle, the flat turtle and the olive ridley turtle.

The stages in the life cycle of the sea turtle

Once the swimming stage is completed, and the turtle is adult, it goes to the mating areas. Shortly after, most turtles return to the beach where they were born to breed and lay their eggs.

Interestingly, this breeding cap can take place several times throughout the life of the turtle once it reaches maturity.

Generally, the life cycle of turtles can be interrupted by natural threats or by man.

Natural threats include predators that feed on turtle eggs and hatchlings. Humans, on the other hand, pose a greater danger to turtles, placing them on the list of endangered animals.

So that you have it clearer, I leave you the stages of the life cycle of these animals:

1- Birth and early years

Once the turtle hatchlings have fully developed within the shell, they break it open and slowly burrow to the surface. This process takes place on a massive scale and can take several days.

The hatching of the eggs generally takes place at night, as the hatchlings can use the darkness to avoid detection by many predators as they attempt to walk along the beach to the ocean.

Once the hatchlings reach the water, they enter a period of swimming for several days. This swimming frenzy is possible thanks to the remains of egg yolk that remain in the body of the turtles. This allows the hatchlings to stay away from the shore and from potential predators.

The small turtles are also transported by strong ocean currents to open ocean habitats where they will live among floating debris and algae, and will have an omnivorous diet. This stage can take several years, even decades.

2- Development and migration

Stupid turtle. Source: Mike Gonzalez (TheCoffee)

The turtle life cycle continues when, after the ocean swimming stage, the young turtles move to near-shore feeding grounds known as neritic zones.

Here they will finish their growth process which may take several years or decades to complete. In these areas you can find more variety of food than in the open ocean, but you will also find more predators.

For this reason, the turtles that enter these areas must have a considerable body size that helps protect them from being eaten.

Adult tortoises that need to regain energy after the nesting season move to these areas until they can again migrate to the mating areas.

3- Migration of adults

Once the turtles obtain the energy resources necessary to reproduce, both the males and the females will migrate to mating areas and later (in the case of females) they will go to the nesting areas.

The distance between feeding and breeding grounds can reach hundreds or thousands of kilometers.

However, during each mating season the females return to nest on the same beach or the same group of beaches where they were born.

4- Mating in coastal areas

In the life cycle of these animals, generally a female only needs to mate with a male to fertilize all her eggs in one season, however, it is common to see cases of multiple paternity depending on the species of turtle.

This is because many males may attempt to mate with several females during the same season.

Males tend to be aggressive during mating season with both females and other males. In this video you can see how two loggerhead turtles mate:

5- Return of males to feeding areas

Males also tend to return to the beaches where they were born, although they visit larger areas than females, thus managing to mate with a greater number of females during the same season. Once the males mate, they return to the feeding grounds.

6- Nesting

Olive ridley sea turtle nesting. Eder Omar Campos González

During the nesting stage of their life cycle, female turtles move ashore to lay their eggs. This event takes place a few weeks after mating.

Thus, once the females reach the coast, they begin to dig a wide hole in the sand with their fins, as if they were shovels. This hole has the shape of a pitcher and during their excavation process, turtles can throw sand into the air.

Therefore, when the nest is complete, females use their hind flippers to dig a smaller hole at the deepest end of the nest, a place known as the egg chamber.

A female can deposit between 50 and 200 soft-shelled eggs in this chamber (the number of eggs will depend on the species of turtle). Once these are deposited, the turtle covers the hole with sand and returns to the ocean.

Females usually stay near the mating areas for one or two months, which allows them to be fertilized several times, in this way they can lay eggs between two and seven times. These events will take place every 10 or 15 days during the same season.

7- Return to the feeding areas

Stupid turtle.

Female tortoises must migrate to foraging areas once they lay their eggs. This process can take several months, depending on the distance between the beach where the nest is located and the feeding area.

Once the nesting season is over, females must regain their energy stores in order to be prepared for the next nesting season. This payback period usually takes more than a year, in some cases it can take several years.

These feeding areas are also used by other large adults and youngsters.

The life cycle of turtles is one of the most studied and most interesting in the animal world. What other knowledge can you contribute on this topic?

Related topics

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Hummingbird life cycle.

References

1. Gibson, S. (2017). Olive Ridley Project. Retrieved from Life Cycle of Turtles: oliveridleyproject.org.
2. Gutierrez, D. (2017). Sciencing. Obtained from Life Cycle of a Turtle: sciencing.com
3. Kalman, B. (2002). The Life Cycle of a Sea Turtle. New York: Crabtree Publishing Company.
4. (2015). Sea Turtle Conservancy. Retrieved from Information About Sea Turtles: Threats to Sea Turtles: conserveturtles.org.
5. (2017). The State of the World's Sea Turtles. Obtained from THE LIFE OF A SEA TURTLE: seaturtlestatus.or.
6. Trumbauer, L. (2004). The Life Cycle of a Turtle. Mankato: Pebble Books.
7. Weller, P. v., Nahill, B., Osborne, NE, & Brindley, H. (2017). SEE TURTLES. Retrieved from Life Cycle of A Sea Turtle: seeturtles.org.