1) Join the Loggerhead Turtle Fact Hunt. 2) Answer two CHALLENGE QUESTIONS about loggerheads. 3) Find four Fugitive Facts about our turtles.
The Loggerhead Turtle Fact Hunt Continues Join our nationwide turtle hunt and see how much information you can collect about loggerhead sea turtles. Search your library, bookstore and magazines rack and see what you can find. (If you locate some good resources that other students might enjoy, be sure to send a bibliography.) Send your turtle facts to: jnorth@informns.k12.mn.us
Thanks to Mark Wisniewski of Buffalo, New York for these first facts: Dear Journey North, I have facts about the loggerhead turtle. They nest on the beaches of Brazil. On the beaches, they are easily captured by humans, and their meat is sold to restaurants. The females lay from 100 to 150 eggs that are the size of a ping- pong ball and the eggs are soft not hard as other eggs are. They live in the deep oceans and sometimes get barnacles on their backs. The females return to the beach to lay eggs as many as three times each nesting season which lasts from September to March. Well, I hope you think those facts were very interesting. Maybe I will give you more facts about the loggerhead turtle. Good Bye, Mark Wisniewski mwisniew@gateway.drew.buffalo.k12.ny.us
Fugitive Facts Here are some more facts about loggerheads, and some facts we're not telling. See if you can find the missing answers and send them (or your guesses) to: jnorth@informns.k12.mn.us
1) The loggerhead turtle is classified as ________, not endangered.
2) _____% of all Western Hemisphere loggerheads nests are found in Florida. The largest loggerhead nesting region on US sand is in Brevard County, Florida (Palm Bay region). Find this county on your map. An estimated 20,000 loggerhead nests were built there in 1991 during the nesting season (April to September).
3) Probably only one in _____ thousand turtle hatchlings ever reach adulthood.
4) While leatherback sea turtles can weigh up to a ton, the maximum weight for loggerheads is about ____ pounds.
CHALLENGE QUESTIONS:
1) In what well-known ocean current does # 58 seem to be travelling?
2) Compare the loggerhead nesting season reported by Mark to the season reported in the Fugitive Facts sections. Why might the nesting seasons be different?
Satellite Data TURTLE 58 Latitude Longitude 1994-10-11 40.813 N 72.599 W 1994-10-11 39.399 N 73.698 W 1994-10-26 38.458 N 74.476 W 1994-11-02 37.698 N 74.976 W 1994-11-09 35.512 N 73.722 W 1994-11-11 36.836 N 75.474 W 1994-12-06 36.021 N 75.312 W 1994-12-13 35.990 N 75.076 W 1994-12-18 35.541 N 74.881 W 1994-12-24 35.420 N 75.110 W 1994-12-30 35.822 N 75.021 W 1995-01-03 35.882 N 75.186 W 1995-01-15 36.001 N 75.235 W 1995-01-22 35.797 N 75.155 W 1995-01-29 35.917 N 74.664 W 1995-02-06 36.939 N 73.555 W 1995-02-13 39.051 N 65.212 W 1995-02-20 39.132 N 67.536 W 1995-02-27 38.981 N 64.511 W 1995-03-04 40.539 N 61.942 W 1995-03-10 40.130 N 58.758 W 1995-03-14 39.776 N 58.324 W
TURTLE 60 1994-10-11 41.106 N 72.772 W 1994-10-18 39.831 N 74.007 W 1994-10-26 38.639 N 74.384 W 1994-11-03 37.689 N 75.187 W 1994-11-10 37.006 N 75.703 W 1994-11-15 35.692 N 75.482 W 1994-11-20 34.746 N 76.318 W 1994-11-23 34.618 N 76.432 W 1994-12-27 34.342 N 76.765 W 1995-01-12 34.409 N 76.699 W 1995-02-03 34.328 N 76.724 W 1995-02-05 34.296 N 76.695 W 1995-02-14 34.258 N 76.845 W 1995-02-28 34.298 N 76.747 W 1995-03-06 34.633 N 76.706 W 1995-03-08 34.686 N 77.395 W 1995-03-09 34.453 N 76.673 W 1995-03-19 34.731 N 76.286 W 1995-04-01 35.107 N 75.524 W
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