sea turtles

Sea turtles are large,air breathing reptiles that inhabit tropical and subtropical seas throughout the world. There upper shells consist of a consist of a upper part (carapace) and a lower part (plastron) hard scales (or scutes) cover all but the leatherback (type of sea turtle, learn more about it later) and the number of arrangement of these scutes can be used to determine the species. Sea turtles come in many different sizes,shapes, and colors. The olive ridley (another type of sea turtle) is usaully less then 100 pounds while the leatherback typically ranges from 650 to 1,300 pounds (wow I know). The upper shells or carapace of each sea turtle species ranges in lenth,color,shape, and arrangement of scales. Sea turtles do not have teeth (that means they can't bite u),but their jaws have modified "beaks" suited to their particuler diet. They don't have visible ears either but have eardrums covered by skin (awesome!). They hear best at low frequinces and their sense of smell is excellent. Their vision underwater is good but they are near-sighted out of water. Their streamline bodies and large flippers make remarkably adapted to life at sea,however,sea turtles maintain close ties to land. Females must come ashore to lay their eggs in the sand; therefore all sea turtles begin their lives as tiny hatchlings on land. Research on marine turtles have discovered many facts about these ancient creatures. Most of this research has been focused on nesting females and hatchlings emerging from their nest. largly because they are easiest to find and study. Thousends of sea turtles around the world have been tagged to help collect imformation about their growth rates,reproduction cycles, and migration routes. After decades of studing sea turtles, much has been learned,however,many mysteries still remained.
Sea turtles and humans
sea turtles have longly facinated people and have figured prominetly in the mythology and folklore and many cultures in the miskito cays off the eastern coast of nicarugua. The story of a kind "turtle mother," still lingers. Unfortinatly,the spiratal signifiacance of sea turtles has not saved them from being exploded for both food and profit. Millons of sea turtles once roamed the earhes oceans, but now only a fraction remain.