Loggerhead Sea Turtle Caretta-Caretta

The international scientific community considers Laganas Bay the most important habitat in the world of the loggerhead sea turtle caretta-caretta. The caretta-caretta turtles are the only sea turtles that nest in Greece.

These turtles are reptiles that live most of their lives at sea and every 2-3 years female turtles use certain beaches to lay their eggs. The female turtles tend to spawn at the same beach where they were initially born. This sign of “patriotism”, which has been verified scientifically, shows that turtles that breed in a specific area are a distinct population that do not mix with others nor can be replaced by others.

The caretta-caretta sea turtles live about 70 to 80 years and an adult turtle weighs some 80 pounds. Their length is about 1meter and they breathe through lungs, so they must come to the surface in order to take breaths. At the age of 25 to 30 a carreta-caretta turtle is ready for reproduction. Their characteristic quality is their sense of “patriotism”, i.e. turtles return to their birthplace to lay their eggs.

Each year, the caretta-caretta turtles come to mate on Zakynthos and lay their eggs on the beaches of Laganas Bay. The mating process takes place in the bay, in close distance to the coast. The mating season begins in spring and the turtles start to lay their eggs from late May to late August. During the night, from 11 pm to 6 am, the turtles come out to the beach to choose a spot for their nest. With her fins, the female turtle digs a 40 cm sand pit in which she lays an average of 120 eggs. The size of each egg resembles that of a ping pong ball.

Turtle egg shells are soft and in order for them not to break they are covered by a liquid that acts as an antiseptic and protects the eggs against infections. Some 40 to 60 days later the baby turtles will leave the nest. Only 60 to 70% of the eggs will hatch. The baby turtle is about 5 cm in length and weighs some 16 grams and has a dark gray ash color and a soft shell. The route the baby turtles follow from the nest to the sea is very important and must be practiced on their own as the features of the beach will be recorded in their minds so years later they will return to the same beach and give birth there as well.