When do carriage turtles lay their eggs. Turkey, Dalyan - “Caretta Caretta Turtles! You may or may not see a sea tadpole! Oh little Turkish Venice! Turtles with their heads out
A species of sea turtle is regularly observed: Caretta-Caretta (Caretta-Caretta), Caretta-Caretta turtles are on the list of endangered animals. The fact is that for a long time they were considered a delicacy not only in the Far East, but also in some European countries (for example, France and Italy).
These marine reptiles have been living on Earth for 95 million years. Adult turtles reach a size of 115-150 cm, while their weight is about 70-90 kg.....
Caretta-Caretta lays eggs only once every two to three years. Turtles go out onto the sand and, using their hind legs, dig several holes, then, choosing, in their opinion, the most suitable one, they lay eggs there. One turtle can dig up to 80-100 holes, but it will lay all its eggs in only one of them. The process of laying eggs lasts for hours and experts say that the female turtle does not experience positive emotions at all at this moment.
This exhausting procedure for turtles lasts about 60 days (from May to July). And from July to September, small turtles begin to appear. They say that males are hatched at a temperature of 28.5 ° C, but for females, heat is required more - 32 ° C.
Cubs hatched on the appointed day,
moreover, they say, they still need to sit in the sand for 26 hours, which is probably why the supervisors feel the place of laying so carefully - the palm goes vertically into the sand in several places in turn.
If "something suspicious", they rake horizontally to the sides with their palms - in layers.
Probably, being afraid to injure the kids who have already decided to get out on their own :)
If they don’t find anything, they all bury it again, make appropriate notes in their notebook and put a wire frame over the masonry - until the next time.
Yes, so the kids get out of the hole and, guided by the moon, head to the sea, carried away by instinct. During the period when the little turtles hatch from eggs, it is forbidden to kindle a fire or light a light, because it can deceive the cubs and they will go astray. They should have time to get to the water before dawn and the heat came. Latecomers are destroyed by the hot rays of the sun or become food for birds. One of the most dangerous enemies on earth they have is a fox. Of course, even once at sea, the cubs cannot be considered completely safe. Not reaching a certain size, they serve as tasty food for fish.
Instinct again leads adults to the place where they were born. Having hatched in one place, they return there already in order to give life to a new generation.
In Turkey, there are 17 beaches where sea turtles lay their eggs, among them the most important are, for example, Iztuzu, Patara, the Gösu River Delta (Gösu), Belek - all of them have the status of protected areas.
I, in general, disagree about Belek, but it’s not for me to judge.
Well, we came here knowing that Caretta breeds here and that we need to run in the morning (we read w, but what about w!) To the beach and peer at the people walking by.
Oh. Only, having gone to the beach, well, we completely forgot about it - after all, the sea is the same! Half past six in the morning and very warm. And the sea is gentle and the air is warm and my temperature has been 38.2 since yesterday.
And then literally 25 meters from us - it is obvious. And we are in chest-deep water.
In general, they caught us by surprise, but we are for the cameras and run :)
And there already special uncles enter in a special notebook how many pieces from which number of the hole when they got out.
The people of various colors lined up in two lines and with very welcoming cries of the kids, of whom there were four, encourages.
Uncles shout at onlookers so that they don’t inadvertently interfere :) They drove me away when I was standing half a meter to the side of the highway - you never know, maybe the kid wants to turn off?
In general, there were four supervisors. And figli? Responsible work!
One records does.
One - with an important plaque on his chest, like, the main one.
He makes all decisions about all the movements of the supervisors in the case of turtles.
One - raises and lowers, and, in case of need, takes away into the common pile the wire frames that are no longer needed, which are installed above the masonry, while the baby is still in the sand.
And he carries a bucket.
One - I don't know why, probably - for the company.
With a bucket is a separate issue: we watched four kids move towards the water. One of them was very weak. At all:(
It was put into this same bucket. Probably carried to the turtle cemetery :(
While the turtles are crawling towards the water (and it's funny, the closer they are to the water, the faster they run, even jump :) it seems that they feel it, even though they were born just a few minutes ago :)), the supervisors are busy with a very important thing: they carefully they dig up the masonry - their former home, everyone checks if there is anything else left there, counts the peel, put it back and bury the masonry.
And they don’t go anywhere until the turtles swim away :)
And even if the turtle, which itself is still the size of 3/4 cigarette packs, rolls over, falling off a pebble on the beach, it does not need to be helped by a specially trained uncle helps her in some strange, but probably more effective way: he does not turn over, he puts his finger to her, helping her to strain her little snares and roll over herself :)
As soon as the baby finally and confidently swims away, they collect their little things and go to the next clutch.
The whole crowd is behind them.
Loggerhead or big-headed turtle (lat. caretta caretta) is another representative of the sea turtle family, which has been greatly affected by human activity. You can meet him in the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In addition, loggerheads are frequent guests in the Mediterranean Sea and even looked into Russia a couple of times - they were seen in the Barents Sea, in Peter the Great Bay and in the Kerch Strait.
Like hawksbill, this turtle has a heart-shaped shell, only its dimensions are slightly larger - on average from 90 to 110 cm, and the largest loggerhead had a carapace 122 cm long. Its color can be olive, red-brown or brown. The lower part - the plastron - is a lighter shade.
The head of the loggerhead is quite large (they call it a big-headed turtle for a reason!). It is round and short, with a massive jaw, with which the turtle crushes strong shells and shells of the inhabitants of the deep sea. The upper part of the head is covered with large scutes; near the eyes there are two pairs of prefrontal scutes. There are also 5 pairs of costal shields on the turtle's back. It has blunt claws on its front paws. Interestingly, the male is quite easy to distinguish from the female by the presence of a long tail.
Loggerheads live at sea most of the time. They even sleep on the surface of the water, slowly drifting along with the current. Mating takes place right there - sometimes with one, and sometimes with several partners. Pregnant females swim to the shore, wait for darkness, and only then come to the surface to lay their eggs.
Most nesting loggerhead turtles can be seen on the island of Masirah in Oman - according to rough estimates, there are at least 30 thousand of them. In addition, loggerheads also liked the coast of Florida - 6-15 thousand females nest here. Many turtles get ashore in Australia.
flickr/paulmichaels79uf
In one clutch there are usually no less than a hundred eggs. The incubation period lasts from 47 to 61 days. Little turtles do not immediately get out of the hole - for some time they sit in the sand and gain strength. And they will need strength, because they need to have time to get to the ocean, avoiding meeting with seagulls, crabs and other predators who have gathered for lunch.
However, this danger is not so terrible for the species as a whole - nature has provided for everything, which is why one adult turtle makes at least 4-5 clutches per season. But she could not take into account the taste preferences of a person. And although loggerhead meat is tasteless, and its shell is not suitable for making souvenirs, the big-headed turtle still found something that can please people - these are its eggs.
What only of them was not prepared! And they added it to confectionery products, and made delicious desserts. And in Cuba, they generally preferred not to wait until the turtle laid eggs, and they caught pregnant females in order to smoke their eggs right in the oviducts, and then sell them as a kind of sausages.
Unfortunately, the result of such activities is quite predictable - loggerheads are included in the Red Book, where the status of their species is assessed as vulnerable. The national laws of Greece, Cyprus, the United States and Italy protect loggerhead turtles, and the collection of their eggs is prohibited almost everywhere in the world.
Zakynthos is the habitat of large sea turtles "caretta-caretta". In June, they are busy laying eggs, and the rest of the time they swim to the delight of tourists. Not far from Laganas (an area in Zakynthos) there is a small island of Marathonisi, the only inhabitants of which are turtles.
2: Lagonas Beach 
3: Loggerhead, big-headed sea turtle or caretta-caretta (lat. Caretta caretta) is a species of sea turtles, the only representative of the loggerhead genus. 
4: Adults about a meter long. This species of turtles is listed in the Red Book, because of the once popular delicacy of their eggs. 
5: Set sail on a boat. The view of Laganas is a very flat part of Zakynthos. 
6: Turtle again. There are really a lot of turtles swimming, but almost all adults are equipped with small beacons and are not at all for tourist purposes. However, the tourism industry takes advantage of this. The boat catches up with the beacon and everyone waits, watching the turtle when it comes up. The animal should inhale every 15-20 minutes, and since, as a rule, at the moment when the turtle is close - it has long been under water, it was not necessary to wait more than 4-5 minutes. 
7: Sailing to Marathonisi 
8: Swim around it to see some caves 
9: 
10: 
11: Mission: find the seagull 
12: 
13: 
14: Landed on Marathonisi, there is a nice sandy beach 
15: On this island behind the iron grid there was such a house, in all likelihood it was an abandoned church. I didn't find any information about this. There is a courtyard with vineyards, stairs leading up, fences and stone benches. Obviously a churchyard, it is not known what time. 
16: And even before there was something like a pier in the sea from the yard, but now it is destroyed, there are blocks of stone. Destroyed for sure by a very strong earthquake in 1953. When almost the whole of Zakynthos plunged into ruins 
17: Marathonisi Beach. 
18: View of the island of Zakynthos 
19: We sail back, and again they. This time in shallow water. 
20: 
21: Amalechka with her carriage 
And finally, two videos with turtles in the sea.
We visited this little Turkish Venice this year.
Dalyan means fishing in Turkish.
There are also many legends about the river. One of them is about twins, a boy and a girl. About how the girl Biblios fell in love with her brother Kaunos. When she revealed her feelings, her brother had to leave the city. The girl from unrequited love decides to die, throw herself off the biggest cliff. But the goddess of spring waters does not allow the girl to die to death. They turn the girl into the "Dalyan" spring.
The place is really very beautiful.
Of course the weather was rainy that day. This is a little unlucky. The tour costs 65 euros. Bought at the hotel from tour operators. But outside the hotel 2 times less. It took 3.5 hours to get to this picturesque place. The price of the tour included meals.
1. Catching blue crabs
Here in such a place, we caught blue crab. For bait.
We caught such beauties, we could take pictures with them, then let them go free. Back to sea. After fishing, we were offered a lunch of crabs for a fee. When we bought the tour, we were told that a crab lunch was included in the price. But it turned out differently. For one serving 7 ye. + drinks and beer was also paid.
On the palate, sweet, tender, juicy, well, very tasty. (You could also make a wish).
After such a dinner, we went to look at the Caretta-Caretta turtles. And suddenly we hear from the guide... That turtles can not be seen.
On the way to the turtles admired:
2. Lycian tombs
Another name is "Royal Tombs". Beautiful, of course, the tombs are empty. But an architectural monument.
And so we arrived at the habitat of turtles ... And in reality, we did not see any of them. Maybe the weather was bad.
3. Visit the turtles
We did not see turtles, but we visited one of the most beautiful beaches of Iztuzu. Where is the Aegean Sea.
Sunbeds were also paid, and for some reason no one told us about this either. But the weather was not very good. Therefore, it was not possible to swim in the sea.
Resting in the fabulous country of Turkey, we, unexpectedly, took birth in a turtle with the beautiful name Caretta-Caretta ( Caretta - Caretta ). It happened on a warm moonlit night on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea in the village of Kizilot.
Of course, we knew that on some Turkish beaches you can meet these sea beauties. On our beach, we even saw a special prohibition sign with a turtle in a human hand - they say, you can’t take turtles in your hands.
Among the guests of our hotel there were rumors that if you walk along the beach at night, you can see huge turtles. We decided to check the rumors and one night we went for a miracle. There was a full moon in the sky, and the sea was unusually calm. We walk along a deserted sandy beach, enjoy the sound of the surf. And suddenly, our path was blocked by a clear wide track on the wet sand, leading from the sea deep into the beach, as if a small armored car had walked. Importantly and sedately, Her Majesty the tortoise Carriage-Carriage was advancing on us. To be honest, at first we were a little scared, but then curiosity overwhelmed our fear, and we began to examine a one and a half meter stranger dressed in a shiny brown shell. She walked with dignity past us towards the sea, without even turning her big head with a characteristic beak in our direction. By the way, these turtles are also called Loggerheads (which means "big-headed"). These turtles got this name due to a rather large head with a massive jaw, thanks to which they gnaw their dinner - crustaceans and sea urchins. Having come to our senses, we barely had time to take a couple of pictures, after which the lady in the shell disappeared into the depths of the sea.
Discussing what we saw, we did not even imagine that an even more interesting meeting was ahead of us.And here again is the familiar trace of the “armored car”. We follow it ... and we see it. We carefully approach closer, the turtle does not move from its place and lets us very close.
We squat down next to her and understand that the lady in the shell is sitting in a hole specially dug in the sand.
She lays eggs! - we guess, not believing our eyes.
In response to our dumb delight, the tortoise sighs heavily. And then there is a breath that every woman who has ever been in a delivery room knows. Only here, in contrast to the delivery room, there are no midwives, no painkillers ... but only a bright moon, a sand hole dug with one's own hand (or with one's own) and bystanders with cameras.
God! We are disturbing her! We need to get out of here immediately! whispers our conscience.
But curiosity binds hands and feet, and we cannot move. With open mouths, to the frantic beating of the heart, we look under the tail of the woman in labor and become witnesses of the miracle of the birth of a new life! So it seemed and fell into the sandy hole, a snow-white round, like a tennis ball, an egg, then another ... and another. In total, we counted over 30 eggs. The sacrament continues for more than an hour, but we seem to have fallen out of temporary space.
After all the testicles are at the bottom of the hole, the turtle, after a little rest, begins to bury its treasure. Now, fading, then, reviving, she spins for about thirty minutes on her perch, carefully filling it with sand and ramming it with her front flippers.
It is done! Mother, with a sense of accomplishment, turns to the sea and crawls into the light of the moonlit path. We are stunned looking after this beauty. Only now I could see that the turtle was not young at all. Shells grew on her battered shell, one of them even managed to cling to the turtle's beak. A relative of dinosaurs struggles to move her wrinkled flippers and looks through us with expressive wise eyes. But here is the sea, once ... and the overweight turtle, turning into an elegant sea butterfly, swims away ...
Goodbye Caretta-Caretta ... Thank you for the miracle and forgive me if something is wrong ...
And at this time, the sacrament continues in the treasured sand hole. After seven weeks, baby turtles will hatch from the eggs. The length of the shell of babies will be only 40-50 mm. They will have to free themselves from sand captivity (the depth of the nest is at least 0.5 meters). And then, guided by the moonlight, go to the sea, which will replace their mother, because they are unlikely to ever meet their own mother. Interestingly, these babies, having matured, can swim through the seas and oceans, but they will return to lay their eggs on this particular beach in Kizilot, where they themselves were born.
Unfortunately, today these amazing turtles are becoming less and less and they are listed in the Red Book. Having lived on Earth for over 95 million years, outliving the dinosaurs, these majestic marine reptiles can't keep up with progress. For a long time they were offended due to the fact that turtle eggs were considered a delicious delicacy. Today, turtles are suffering from tourists. Often, hatched turtles, confusing moonlight with the brighter light of hotels and discos, run in the opposite direction from the sea and ... accordingly, they die either from predators, or from the scorching Turkish sun, or from tourists.
Well, let's wish our godchildren, who were born on July 15, successfully hatch from their testicles, get out of the sandy nest and get to the sea. A bright moonlit path for you kids and a calm sea!