Loggerhead sea turtle

Female loggerheads return to nest on the stretch of coast where they hatched, often decades earlier. They come ashore at night, dig a nest above the tide line, lay and return to the sea within an hour or two. Hatchlings emerge at night and head for the brightest horizon, which on a natural beach is the sea.

Loggerheads crush whelks and crabs and keep those populations in check, and their eggs bring ocean nutrients up onto the dunes, feeding the plants that hold beaches together. Georgia's beaches are an important part of their nesting range in the western Atlantic.

Nest — Dug in the beach above high tide by the female's hind flippers
Eggs — About 100 to 120 per nest, several nests a season
Incubation — About 55 to 60 days; sand temperature decides each hatchling's sex
Hatchlings — About 4.5 cm long; they swim offshore for years before returning to coastal waters
Maturity — At roughly 25 to 35 years
Lifespan — Many decades

• On nesting beaches, turn off or shield lights facing the sea at night. Hatchlings follow artificial light inland and die.
• Fill in holes and remove beach furniture at night; both trap nesting females and hatchlings.
• Never touch a nesting turtle or a hatchling. Let hatchlings make their own way to the sea.
• A sea turtle stranded, injured or tangled on the beach needs a licensed wildlife rehabilitator at once; sea turtles are treated by specialist hospitals, which a rehabilitator can reach.
• Sea turtles are protected under federal law in the United States.

• Hatchlings need to be carried to the water. The crawl across the sand is part of what prepares them to swim; carrying them can harm them.
• A sea turtle on the beach by day is resting. Only nesting females come ashore, at night. One on the beach in daylight is in trouble.

• Green sea turtle
• Kemp's ridley sea turtle
• Leatherback sea turtle