20 days into sea turtle nesting season and there are now 12 nests on Fort Myers Beach which is up from 4 last week. To the south, Bonita Beach now has 29, up from 17 last week. There are now 60 nests on Sanibel, and Captiva checks in with 25.
You turtle experts out there know what this picture’s about. For those who don’t, let us explain.
Unfortunately, there were 10 false crawls on Fort Myers Beach and 24 on Bonita Beach.
This is sometimes caused by human disruption. Our friends at Turtle Time tell us this picture indicates that someone interfered with the turtle and caused a false crawl.
It’s important to remember that if you encounter a sea turtle attempting to nest, observe from a distance and don’t introduce any light which can be disorienting. Being on land is very difficult for the turtles and requires an enormous amount of energy. It’s important to note Sea Turtles are protected under Florida law.
DID YOU KNOW?
An adult loggerhead turtle can grow to more than 3 ft long and weigh up to 350 pounds. A female may nest 3-6 times in a season at an 11-15 day interval and depending on the temperature of the sand, incubation is about 55-65 days. The gender of the hatchlings is also determined by temperature, below 82.4 degrees will favor mostly males and above 87.8 and females are likely to emerge. These little hatchlings are only about 2” when they start out and it can take 30 years or more to reach maturity.