How to Research the Life Cycles of Sea Turtles

The sea turtle's life cycle begins when a female lays her eggs on a nesting beach. Eggs incubate for six weeks to two months, then hatch. The hatchlings make their way to the water, then spend between 10 and 50 years in coastal waters until they reach sexual maturity. Females tend to return to the area they were born to nest. Learning about these creatures' life cycles can be as simple as performing an Internet search and as engrossing as watching the nesting process yourself.

Things You'll Need

  • Computer with internet access
  • Library card
  • Lecture/class fees
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Instructions

    • 1

      Search online educational resources from institutions and organizations focusing on sea turtles or oceanography. See Turtles, the University of North Carolina and Rice University all have online pages or diagrams devoted to illustrating the sea turtle's life cycle. Study as many pages and diagrams as possible to help you gain a thorough understanding of the process. Search your local library for books and electronic articles for similar information. Consult the librarian for help with the catalogue or article database.

    • 2

      Attend lectures of classes that cover sea turtles. If you happen to live near a coast, you may have access to an aquarium or facility that offers sea turtle educational programs. The Scripps Institute of Oceanography in San Diego, California, offers lecture series each summer at reasonable prices to the public, students and educators. You may find a lecture on the sea turtles of Indonesia or New Guinea, for instance. Lectures fill the gaps of knowledge you might have from your own research.

    • 3

      Join local sea turtle preservation societies or organizations and attend meetings. Education is typically a large component to these groups' work and activism. You may also learn about the various threats to the sea turtles' and how habitat loss and environmental damage disrupts their life cycle.

    • 4

      Attend a turtle watch. Organizations or groups may schedule trips to beaches to watch turtles nest and return to the ocean. Programs like the Holden Beach Turtle Watch actually take an active role after nesting, moving nests to a safer location, if necessary, then staking and blocking off eggs so they can incubate and hatch safely. Members ensure the hatchlings make it to the water without disturbance or being hunted by predators. Florida's Sea Turtle Preservation Society also rescues adult turtles and transports them to rehabilitation centers.

    • 5

      Attend beach cleanups if you live by one. Helping preserve sea turtles' environments means they'll be around longer for you to learn about their cycle. Search for information online and in your local library on threats to beach habitats as well.

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