CS 321 | Spring '21

Hello Turtle Lover!

In this site, you can look at fun facts, famous turtles in cinematic history, watch videos, and learn more about save the turtle campaigns.

Hover over the image to see a surprise!

Fun Facts

A turtle’s shell is not an exoskeleton.

Some people mistake a turtle’s hard outer shell for an exoskeleton, but it’s actually a modified rib cage that’s part of the vertebral column.

Turtles have a second shell

Besides their outer shell, turtles also have a lower shell, called a plastron. The plastron usually joins with the upper shell—called the carapace—along both sides of the body to create a complete skeletal box.

The largest turtles weigh more than a thousand pounds.

You aren’t going to find these in your neighborhood pet store tank, but the largest sea turtle species—the leatherback turtle—can weigh between 600 and 2,000 pounds and grow up to 8 feet in length.

In some species, weather determines if turtle eggs become male or female.

In certain species of turtles, within a viable range, lower temperatures lead to male eggs hatching, while higher temperatures lead to female hatchlings

Turtles lose their first “baby tooth” within an hour.

Baby turtles, called hatchlings, have an “egg tooth” on their beak to help them hatch out of their shell. This tooth disappears approximately an hour after hatching.

Sea turtles lay their eggs in a nest they dig in the sand with their rear flippers. The group of eggs is called a clutch.

They usually lay 100-125 eggs per nest and will nest multiple times, about two weeks apart, over several months. As soon as the eggs hatch (roughly 2 months later), the hatchlings dig out of their nest. This process generally takes a few days. Once they emerge, the tiny turtles hurry to the sea and make their way offshore into the open ocean. Sea turtles face many threats, but those that survive to become adults are decades old.