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How long do sea turtles live?
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What we do know is that sea turtles live a long time (some can live up to 50 years or more) and have similar lifespans to humans. Most marine turtles take decades to mature—between 20 and 30 years—and remain actively reproductive for another 10 years.
The lifespan of sea turtles varies depending on the species, size, metabolism, water temperature, and habitat. For instance, the Kemp’s ridley sea turtle has a shorter lifespan of around 30 years, while the green sea turtle can live up to 80 years.
- The Sea Turtle Life Cycle
- How Long Can Sea Turtles Live?
- Why Do Sea Turtles Live So Long?
- Sources
Birth
A sea turtle’s life begins when a female nests and lays eggs on a beach, usually near where she was born. She will nest between two and eight times each season, laying about 100 eggs in each nest. The eggs are vulnerable to predatorslike birds, mammals, and fish. After a period of six to eight weeks, the surviving hatchlings break out of their eggs (called "pipping"), emerge from the sand, and head towards the water.
Lost Years
Only an estimated 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 10,000 hatchlings survive to experience the next phase of life: the open ocean phase. This period, which lasts between two and 10 years, is also called “the lost years” because the turtles' movements at sea are hard to monitor. While turtles can be tagged by scientists, the transmitters used are often too bulky for younger creatures. In 2014, a group of researchersfrom Florida and Wisconsin used smaller equipment to track the “lost years” of hatchlings tha...
Adulthood
Sea turtles grow up slowly. It takes them between 15 and 50 years to become reproductively mature. They spend their adult lives foraging in coastal waters and migrating to beaches to mate. Only the females come ashore to nest, a process that takes place every two to five years. Like birds and fish, sea turtles rely on the magnetic field of the planet to return to their place of birth. Their migrations can be lengthy. In 2008, a leatherback was tracked traveling 12,774 miles from Indonesia to...
The title of “oldest sea turtle” remains unclaimed, which enhances the species’ mystique. Determining exactly how long sea turtles live is particularly difficult because the turtles often outlive the duration of most studies. When sea turtles are tagged, satellite data transmission typically lasts just between six and 24 months. Meanwhile, turtles ...
Sea turtles have been on Earth for more than 100 million years. To put that in perspective, dinosaurs went extinct about 65 million years ago and early human ancestors started walking on two legs about 4 million years ago. Research indicates that a key explanation for the sea turtle's long lifespan is its slow metabolism or rate of converting food ...
“Basic Facts About Sea Turtles.” Defenders of Wildlife, 18 Mar. 2013, defenders.org/sea-turtles/basic-facts.Enstipp, Manfred R., et al. “Energy Expenditure of Freely Swimming Adult Green Turtles (Chelonia Mydas) and Its Link with Body Acceleration.” Journal of Experimental Biology, The Company of Biologi...Evans, Ian. “Sea Turtles Are a Conservation Success Story – Mostly.” Oceans, News Deeply, 18 Oct. 2017, www.newsdeeply.com/oceans/community/2017/10/19/sea-turtles-are-a-conservation-success-story-m...“Hummingbirds.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, www.nps.gov/cham/learn/nature/hummingbirds.htm.- Julia Travers
Sea turtles tend to live long lives, greater than 70 years, so barnacles do not have to worry about host death. However, mortality in sea turtle barnacles is often driven by their host shedding the scutes on which the barnacle is attached, rather than the death of the sea turtle itself. [161]
Average Life Span: unknown. Size: 2 feet to 7 feet long. Weight: 70 to 1500 pounds. Current Population Trend: Decreasing. Six of the seven species of sea turtles that swim the planet’s waters—...
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Apr 10, 2024 · The natural lifespan of a sea turtle can be anywhere between 50 to 100 years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports. Sea turtles take decades to mature, usually...
Mar 6, 2024 · Sea turtles are known for their impressive longevity. They can live for several decades, with many species reaching 50 to 100 years in age. But this long lifespan contributes to their late maturity, where some species don’t breed until they are 20 to 30 years old.
