Sea turtles nest. What is the green sea turtle famous for? Food for freshwater reptiles

The house sparrow (lat. Passer domesticus) is a familiar inhabitant of cities and villages from the Sparrow family (Passeridae). He is able to easily adapt to different conditions life. Once on other continents, sparrows were able to adapt and quickly settle in new lands.

Their ancestral home is the arid regions of Asia. Then they spread throughout Eurasia and became neighbors of humans. In the 19th century they were brought to Australia and South America, where they acclimatized perfectly. Now these birds can be seen in New Zealand, South Africa and on many oceanic islands.

Behavior

The house sparrow tolerates a wide variety of diseases without consequences for its health. weather from sudden temperature changes to scorching heat. He always settles where people live.

Sparrows that have migrated to other continents are actively displacing their food competitors. Because of this, many species of native birds have disappeared on some islands of Oceania.

In villages, they are located in haystacks, piles of brushwood, barns, or simply in dense bushes, in crevices between stones and burrows dug in a steep ravine. If there is not enough space, then the nest is built from grasses and twigs wherever possible. Nests built in trees resemble a ball and have thick walls and a side entrance. Inside they are lined with all sorts of rubbish in the form of scraps of paper or scraps of fabric.

Sometimes particularly arrogant individuals attack other birds and drive them out of the nest. A couple of gray bullies can terrorize swifts or swallows until they leave their home. After this, the dodgers immediately move into the abandoned apartment.

Reproduction

The house sparrow has a sociable disposition, but fiercely defends its own nest even from members of its own flock. In one season, a pair of birds can produce up to 3 broods. The first laying is done at the end of April. The female lays no more than 6 light-colored eggs with dark speckles. The incubation period lasts 2 weeks.

The female incubates the clutch on her own, the male can only occasionally and briefly replace her. Parents diligently feed their offspring with insects, so the chicks grow very quickly.

While feeding their offspring, sparrows bring great benefits by exterminating aphids and other pests.

After 15 days, the chicks begin to fly. With the arrival of autumn, they gather in huge flocks and fly away from their parents in search of new nesting sites. In winter a large number of young sparrows die from the cold and become victims of predators.

House sparrows lead active image life in daytime days. They devote the entire daylight hours to searching for food, and for the night they go to dense thickets bush. Sitting on the branches, they happily peck young buds and fresh herbs. Walking along the lawn, they look for seeds of various herbs.

Sparrows know well how to use feeders and willingly eat food offered by people.

With the arrival of autumn, their diet is replenished ripe berries. Despite their innate curiosity, the birds are very careful. As soon as one bird flies up in fear, the whole flock rushes after it.

In the days of horse-drawn transport, birds attacked piles of horse manure from which undigested oat seeds were extracted. Now they often look at the stables for food. In cities there is enough food for birds to survive, so there is no need for migrations.

Following the example, the sparrows learned to make holes in the caps of milk bottles with their beaks and feast on the cream. At the end of the nesting season, a flock of sparrows wanders from place to place in search of food and water, without moving far from the nesting site.

Description

The body length of adult individuals reaches 15 cm. A strong short beak is adapted for eating insects and seeds. The female's plumage is almost all gray. Only on the back and upper side of the wings there are dark stripes.

The male's plumage is slightly different. Its back is brown with dark spots, and its ventral side is light. The upper part of the wing is crossed light stripe. There is a darkish spot under the throat that resembles a tie.

Small body of dense build. Thin legs are colored pink or grey colour. Four fingers, three of which are directed forward and one back, ending in sharp claws.

The lifespan of a house sparrow reaches 10 years.

Sparrows are a bird to which we are so accustomed that we don’t even see how different these sparrows are. Most sparrows live in groups or form colonies.

Behavior and lifestyle

Sparrows are very smart birds. A. Bram wrote about them like this: “Although the sparrow at first glance seems stupid, in reality it is richly gifted. Being very intelligent, he little by little becomes so familiar with a person and his way of life that he surprises every observant person.” “They are also gifted with excellent memories.” The sparrows (field sparrows), which constantly feed on the feeder installed on our site, recognize me (their main “feeder”) very well. More likely, even my jacket and snow shovel. And if our dog leaves the house, then all the sparrows instantly flock to the feeder. They have developed a persistent conditioned reflex on a combination of three factors: a purple jacket, a shovel and a dog. Birds sit on bushes and trees near the feeder and calmly wait for a new portion of food to appear in the feeder.

Bram writes: " Characteristic feature The sparrow is that wherever it is found, it lives in the closest communication with man. It inhabits both noisy, crowded cities and secluded villages surrounded by fields. Ships bring him to islands where he was never known before; he remains to live on the ruins of devastated areas, as a living witness to the happy past. Being in the full sense of the word a sedentary bird, he almost never flies beyond the boundaries of the city or beyond the borders of the fields where he was born; only occasionally does he undertake travel to explore the region beyond the areas where he lives.” Everything is exactly like that. We have for last years A huge, close-knit flock of sparrows formed. It's funny to see thin first-year birds who cautiously give way to older birds.

Bram continues: “... just like with a person, he enters into more or less close relationships with other creatures: he is trusting or distrustful of a dog, he is very annoying to horses, he warns his own kind and other birds about the presence of a cat, he steals food from chickens, not paying attention to their threatening movements.” I was once watching interesting behavior sparrows hiding from the neighbor's cat in a wide bush next to the feeder. The whole flock found itself inside a huge green ball, but at the very top one of the sparrows was on duty all the time. This “watchman” cautiously watched the cat and from time to time dived into the bush to tell the other birds something. I drove the cat away, and the sparrows immediately returned to eating.

The benefits that sparrows bring and the harm attributed to them are eloquently evidenced by the experience of China during the Great Leap Forward (1958-1960). It all ended with the sparrows being completely exterminated. Then hordes of pests attacked the ripening grain. The state had to urgently import sparrows from other countries.

Bram very accurately noted that sparrows displace others useful birds“and with their pugnacity, their restless disposition, they discourage songbirds from visiting the gardens that they have taken possession of.” This is unfortunately true. It’s been two years now that tits are almost invisible on our site. Neighbors list to me the birds that come to their feeders. But our “bandits” drive away all small birds (especially tits) that find themselves within the sparrow’s territory. And what kind of fights they staged last year with swifts, not wanting to give up their nests to the birds that arrived.

One more thing interesting observation Bram: “Sparrows are difficult to tame. But in some cases it is possible to bind this smart bird. Roveler reports that one of his acquaintances managed to tame a female sparrow in complete freedom; he flew to his name, sat on the lap and hand of his owner and recognized him from afar.”

Types of sparrows

The sparrow is a small bird that some ornithologists classify as a member of the family Weavers (Ploceidae), subfamily Sparrows. Another part of scientists identifies a separate family Passeriformes (Passeridae). There are 22 species in this family, with about 8 species found in Russia.

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) 14 - 18 cm long. The male has a dark gray or gray top of the head. The back is brown, with numerous black spots. The chin, throat, crop and top part breasts. There is a very dark stripe “beak - eye - ear”. The back of the head is brown. Whitish-gray belly and undertail. A narrow white transverse stripe on the wings is clearly visible. The beak is black. The female sparrow has a grayish-brown upperparts with red streaks. Young birds look like the female. The main distinguishing features: a gray cap (when compared with a tree sparrow) and a brown back (when compared with a black-breasted sparrow).

The house sparrow is found in both Eurasia and North America. In Russia it is not found only in the Far Northeast. These birds are often called "city sparrows" as they can be seen more often in large populated areas, they ignore the village. The sparrow is mobile, does not walk on the ground, but jumps with both legs at once. More often he has to fly low from place to place. He loves to swim in sand and dust. Keeps in packs. Ornithologists describe the chirping of a sparrow as “chiv-chiv-chiv.”

The sparrow nests in a variety of places, under any little shelter. Sometimes in trees and bushes. The nest is a ball made of plant fluff and dried grass. There are 4 - 6 eggs in a clutch. They are grayish-white with brown spots.

(Passer montanus) slightly smaller than the house sparrow. Its length is 14 - 17 cm. The upper part of the head, the back of the head, the neck and the wings are chestnut brown. The back is brownish-red with black spots. The cheeks and sides of the neck are white. Stands out on the cheek black spot. Black throat and beak-ear stripe. Whitish belly and undertail. There is a narrow white stripe (transverse) on the wings. The beak is black. Legs dark brown. The female looks like the male. Young birds are colored like adults. Distinctive feature- black spots on light cheeks that are clearly visible from a distance.

The tree sparrow is found in Eurasia, in Russia - except in the extreme northeast and arctic tundra. This bird settles near villages, small villages and places that people visit (parks, gardens, cemeteries, etc.). The tree sparrow avoids noisy, crowded cities and other overly busy places. Therefore, this species is more often called the “country sparrow”. Ornithologists define the chirping of the tree sparrow as “zev-zev-zev”, “tiv-tiv” or as “tek-tek” and call it gentle.

The tree sparrow makes its nests in tree hollows, crevices, empty nests of migratory birds, and even in burrows. The clutch consists of 5 - 6 whitish-gray eggs with brown spots.

Black-breasted Sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis) 14 - 18 cm long. The upper part of the head, the back of the head, the neck, and the wings are chestnut brown. There are light streaks on the black back. The cheeks and sides of the head are white. Black throat, crop, upper chest and stripe from beak to ear. White belly and rump with black spots. The wings have a narrow white transverse stripe. The beak is black. Legs dark brown. Females and young birds are not so contrastingly and brightly colored. Their general tone is brownish.

The black-breasted sparrow is a migratory, often nomadic species. It is distributed in Eurasia and North Africa. In Russia - in the North Caucasus, where it inhabits gardens, groves, and the outskirts of populated areas. This sparrow flies beautifully. His voice is rough and harsher than other sparrows. Breeds in colonies. Builds large, sloppy, ball-shaped nests or takes over empty nests big birds. There are 4 - 8 eggs in a clutch. They are bluish-white with spots of gray.

Snow sparrow, or snow finch (Montifringilla nivalis) very beautiful. Colonies of birds are found in the mountains of South-Eastern Altai and the Caucasus. When in flight, the snow sparrow can be identified by its long black and white wings and gray tail, edged with white feathers. There is also a characteristic black spot on the throat. The color of the lower body is light. Ornithologists describe its trill not as a chirp, but as a monotonous “sittiger-sittiger” sound. Call: sharp “uee”, “pchiu”. An alarmed snow sparrow makes a "pchurrt" sound.

Red sparrow (Passer rutilans) in Russia is found in the south of Sakhalin and the Southern Kuril Islands. The upper part of the head, the back of the head, the neck, the back and the wings of this sparrow are chestnut-red. The female has a brownish-gray upper part of the head and back, and a light gray breast. This sparrow is a forest dweller. It nests in pairs. Does not gather in large flocks.

Stone sparrow (Petronia petronia) is a relatively large bird, which is distinguished by a wide light stripe on the crown and a light brown beak. The throat and chest are light brown with speckles, and a lemon-yellow spot stands out on the crop. In Russia stone sparrow found in Altai, Transbaikalia, Tuva, the Lower Volga region, and Ciscaucasia. There, the rock sparrow nests near the water, as it loves to swim. It builds nests between stones, in rock cracks and in empty holes. This is a noisy bird, flocks of which fly from place to place. According to ornithologists, the rock sparrow makes ringing “geeooo”, “wee-weep”, “pee-oo-ee” and “dpiu-weep”.

Mongolian ground sparrow (Pyrgilauda davidiana) lives in Altai, Western Transbaikalia and Tuva. It has sandy-brown plumage on its back with faint spots. This sparrow is silent (chirps quietly) and trusting. Found in the mountains, among rocks and in the steppes.

Short-fingered sparrow (Carpospiza brachydactyla) is a smaller sandy-brown bird with characteristic white stripes along the edges of the throat and at the top of the tail. Breeds in Dagestan in rocky mountainous areas. His song is a drawn-out “tss-tss-tsseeeeeeee” and “tee-zee-zeeeeeeee”, which is compared to the sounds made by cicadas.

When describing these species of sparrow, the books helped me a lot: “Birds of Russia. Key to all bird species Russian Federation"(authors N. Arlott and V. Brave) and "School Atlas - bird identification" (author V. Brave).

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The house sparrow is the most famous bird in the world. The sparrow belongs to those few species of birds that have become indispensable inhabitants of rural and city streets. It seems that without these nimble neighbors, life would be boring for us.

House sparrow: description

The sparrow is a small bird, its body length is about 15-17 cm, weight - 24-35 g, but at the same time it has a strong build. The head is round and quite large. The beak is about one and a half centimeters long, plump, conical in shape. The tail is approximately 5-6 cm, the paws are 1.5-2.5 cm. Males are larger in size and weight than females.

The color of the feathers of girl sparrows and boy sparrows also differs. They have the same upper body - brown, lower part - light gray and wings with a white and yellow stripe located across. A noticeable difference between females and males is the color of the head and chest. In boys, the top of the head is dark gray, below the eyes there is light gray plumage, and a clearly visible black spot on the throat and chest. Girls have a light brown head and neck.

Ecology of the House Sparrow

Sparrows live near human habitation, they scattered into given time almost all over the world, but initially the homeland of these birds is considered most of Europe and

The house sparrow is found in populated areas, starting from the west of Europe and reaching the Arctic coast to the shores of northern Europe. Siberia is also inhabited by these agile little birds. In most of Eastern and Central Asia the sparrow does not live.

Birds are able to adapt perfectly to the conditions in which they find themselves. These are sedentary birds, only from the cold northern places during the frosty winter they migrate to where it is warmer, in a southern direction.

Lifestyle

As mentioned earlier, the house sparrow likes to settle next to people, perhaps because of this it received the name “brownie”. Gray birds can live in pairs, but it happens that they create entire colonies. For example, when feeding they always gather in large flocks. When there is no need to sit in nests on eggs or at night they settle in bushes or on tree branches.

In the air, the bird reaches a flight speed of up to 45 km/h; the sparrow cannot walk on the ground, like most other birds; it moves by jumping. He won’t drown in a pond, because he can swim, and he’s also a good diver.

Reproduction

IN mating season house sparrows divide into pairs, then the male and female begin building a home together. Nests are built in crevices of structures and buildings, in hollows, in burrows, on the slopes of ravines, in bushes and on tree branches. The sparrow house is made from small twigs, dry grass and straw.

Throughout April, the future mother sparrow lays eggs; in the nest there are from 4 to 10 eggs, white with brown spots. 14 days after the female sits on the eggs, helpless chicks are born. Mom and dad take care of the hatched offspring together and feed the babies insects. After just two weeks, the chicks fly out of the nest.

Lifespan

Sparrows in nature live quite a long time, their life expectancy is about 10-12 years. A case of longevity has been recorded - a sparrow originally from Denmark lived for 23 years, another of its relatives did not live up to its twentieth birthday.

The problem with these birds is that a lot of young birds die before they reach one year of age. The hardest time for young animals is winter. If they manage to live to see their first spring, then they have a chance to meet old age. At this time, about 70% of young sparrows do not survive to one year.

Nutrition

The house sparrow can easily do without water; it receives the amount of moisture necessary for its existence from juicy berries. Birds mainly feed plant foods. Favorite delicacy - seeds Sparrow is not picky; he eats whatever comes his way; his diet includes grass seeds, tree buds, and various berries. These birds also do not disdain waste food from garbage cans; experience tells them that in these iron boxes you can find a lot of tasty things. Insects are rarely included in the sparrow's menu; only during the period of feeding the chicks do bugs and worms become daily food, since this is what the parent birds feed their young. Sparrows also do not forget about sand; it is necessary for the bird's stomach to digest food. If you can’t get hold of sand, then small pebbles are used.

Subfamily Sparrows

The subfamily Sparrows include the house sparrow, snow finch, and tree sparrow. I would like to draw attention to the snow finch, popularly called the snow sparrow. These birds are quite beautiful, they are lighter in color and larger than the brownie. The snow finch is grayish-brown above and white below, its wings are black and white. If you observe a bird in flight, it appears as if it is a white bird with black spots. The male finch's throat is black, the head is gray, and the tail is long and white, running lengthwise. This species of sparrow is called "snow" because of its almost white plumage.

The field one, unlike the snow one, is much smaller than the brownie one. The field sparrow and the house sparrow (males) are similar to each other in the color of the body and wings; they can be easily distinguished by the color of the head. The field relative of the brownie is “dressed” in a chestnut cap, which is separated from the brownish back by a narrow white collar. The tree sparrow has a black spot on its white cheeks and a very small spot on its neck. Males and females of this species of birds are “dressed” in the same clothes, their color is no different.

Both house sparrows and tree sparrows settle near people. Field animals, as can be seen from the name, mostly live in rural settlements, and brownies, accordingly, are mostly urban residents. Birds try to stay away from the flock; mixed colonies of both species are very rare. White, black, gray - the difference between sparrows is not too big; they are firmly united by one thing - proximity to humans. Life without these restless birds is no longer even imaginable; they are not going to leave us, so we are guaranteed a feathered neighborhood for a very long time.

There are five species of turtles living in the sea. They are common in tropical zone, although (in very rare cases) they swim into temperate and even polar seas. In the seas of the Russian Federation, turtles are extremely rare. All cases of their discovery are known by comparison. The leatherback turtle has been found in the Japanese, Bering and Barents Seas, and loggerhead only in the Japanese and Barents. The other three types sea ​​turtles(green, hawksbill and ridley) apparently never leave tropical and subtropical waters.

In the minds of most people, a turtle, along with a snail, always serves as the personification of clumsiness and slowness. These turtle qualities are reflected in the proverbs and sayings of many peoples. Indeed, the sight of a tortoise waddling aimlessly cannot evoke in anyone the idea of ​​purposefulness and energy.

At the intersections of London's busiest streets you can see posters depicting the tortoise and the hare, which silently tells pedestrians: "Don't gallop like a hare and don't crawl like a tortoise." But in Fiji, the turtle is considered a symbol of speed and superior navigational abilities. Her image can be seen on any official letterhead of the Maritime Department. Only this is not a terrestrial armored reptile, which is not found on the Fiji islands, but a sea turtle.

Already from the shape of the sea turtle’s body one can see that it is exceptionally well adapted to life in water and to overcoming vast ocean spaces. The body of all species of sea turtles has a streamlined heart-shaped shape, the shell is flattened or (in the leatherback turtle) absent. The limbs that serve as the main propulsion mechanism for sea turtles are modified into flippers. The front pair of legs is much more developed than the back.

Unlike terrestrial and many freshwater species Neither the head nor the limbs of sea turtles can be retracted under the protection of the shell. The streamlined body shape and powerful, flattened, flipper-like legs allow them to travel long distances. The entire life of a sea turtle is spent in water; only females crawl onto land during the egg-laying period.

Having chosen a suitable place on the sandy beach and with difficulty overcome the few meters separating the site of the future nest from the high tide line, the turtle begins to dig. This always happens at night. Using her hind limbs, the female sea turtle digs a deep hole and begins to lay large white spherical eggs there. The process of laying eggs continues for a long time, and salty tears flow abundantly from the animal’s eyes.

Previously, it was believed that turtles cry from the pain of “birth” pangs, but then they noticed that these animals are generally whiny and shed tears constantly. When kept in captivity, tears flow from their eyes day and night. At the end of the last century, a more rational assumption was made, according to which the sea turtle needs tears to wash away sand that has gotten into its eyes and protect them from drying out. This explanation for the incessant crying of turtles was regularly reprinted from one biology textbook to another. No one thought of a very strange circumstance: only sea turtles cry, although their eyes are constantly washed by water.

Terrestrial tortoises, including desert tortoises, whose eyes can actually become clogged with sand and dry out, do not shed a single tear. Only in the middle of this century was it discovered that excess salt is removed from the body of a sea turtle along with its tears, that is, their lacrimal glands work as kidneys! Thus, quite unexpectedly, the tearfulness of sea turtles was explained.

Having laid eggs and filled the nest with sand, the female hurries back to the sea. On land, adult sea turtles have almost no enemies (except for humans!), but this element is unusual for them, and the dawning day threatens with heat. Having reached the water, the turtle quickly swims away from the shore, and its future offspring remain for one and a half to two months in the thickness of the coastal sand. Despite the mother's careful camouflage of the laying site, it is quickly found by various terrestrial predators. Snakes, raccoons, feral dogs and even jaguars are causing terrible havoc in sea turtle nests along the coast. Caribbean Sea. In other breeding areas, nests are destroyed by other predators.

Little turtles differ from their parents in their incredible agility when moving on land. As soon as they leave the shell of the egg, they rush to the sea. But this shortcut turns out to be fatal for many. Here they are waylaid predator birds, and flocks of turtles come out to sea predatory fish. It is clear that only a few lucky ones manage to survive under these conditions, but nevertheless, sea turtles were once very numerous. Columbus, amazed by the abundance of turtles in the Caribbean Sea, named the group of islands he discovered Las Tor Tugas (Turtle Islands). There were so many green turtles swimming in the sea around these islands that they literally blocked the path of ships. However, the situation soon changed. The influx of colonialists quickly exterminated the countless herds of turtles, and the former name of the islands was forgotten. Now they are called the Cayman Islands.

All five species of sea turtles have been heavily hunted and continue to be hunted today, despite the introduction of various bans and restrictions. Sea turtles get into fishing nets only by accident, and a large animal entangled in them easily breaks the meshes and leaves. Turtles never take bait and therefore cannot be caught with a fishing rod. In this regard, modern methods of turtle fishing have remained the same as they were one hundred, two hundred and a thousand years ago. Here is one description of such a hunt made by the famous American sea turtle researcher Archie Carr:

“The twelve-pound spear described a wide arc, pierced the sliding shadow, sank a quarter of its length into the water and froze when it met the hard shell of a turtle. Then the pole fell and floated on the surface.

“Miss...” I said.

I shouldn't rush to a conclusion, since Jonah Thompson struck with a spear. However, was it possible to hit the target under such circumstances? The bow of the small fishing boat jumped and tossed from side to side in the tide swell. A gusty breeze covered the surface of the sea with deep wrinkles of waves, and they cast scattered reflections as they ran. From the very beginning it must be said that the water was milky white, and the turtle was swimming at a depth of a yard, about thirty feet from us, and was darting about like a rabbit.

“An iron point sticks out in it...” said Jonah. And then I saw that the rope was crawling away like a snake from the bucket that stood on the bow of the boat.

- How did you do it?

“I’m sixty-five, and I started early.” It’s much more difficult with green ones: they fly around like seagulls. And this is a ridley."

There is another way. To do this, they catch a large sticky fish and tie it to a long string. Having noticed a turtle in the sea, the fish are thrown in its direction. The stick immediately overtakes the turtle and firmly attaches itself to its shell. Then the fish along with the prey is pulled to the side of the boat. As you can see, catching a turtle in the sea is quite difficult, but catching a female on the shore during the egg-laying period does not cost anything. It is enough to turn the animal on its back and it becomes completely helpless.

Medieval sailors willingly took on board live turtles, which required almost no care, but served as a constant and very reliable supply fresh meat; after all, the most valuable green turtle in this regard reaches 100-140 centimeters in length and 400 kilograms of weight. Leatherback turtle more green. Two-meter giants of this species are known. They weigh over half a ton. The sailors also stocked salted and dried turtle meat.

The highest taste qualities The green turtle is different. In many seaside tropical countries dishes from this turtle are served in restaurants as delicacies. Turtle soup is especially widely known. To prepare it, the animal's shell is cut into two parts. The greenish fat is scraped out from the upper one (the turtle gets its name from its color), and strips of the jelly-like mass located between the bones are cut out from the lower one. Together with fried pieces of turtle meat, a thick stew is cooked from these ingredients, which is seasoned with garlic, onions and various spices.

In general, all species of sea turtles are edible, but there have been several cases of fatal poisoning from the meat of leatherback and hawksbill turtles. It is believed that the poison enters the body of these two turtles along with their food, as they eat jellyfish and some other poisonous animals. The green turtle feeds mainly on the sea grasses Zostera and Thalassia, as well as algae, and its meat is never poisonous.

Sea turtle eggs are in great demand. They are dug out of their nests immediately after laying. Nests are discovered by barely noticeable signs and by the tracks of a crawling female. Eggs are consumed fresh and, in addition, used for cooking confectionery. Egg fishing causes the greatest damage to the numbers of these animals.

The hawksbill sea turtle is hunted not so much for its meat as for the beautiful horny scutes covering its shell. After heating, the stripped shields become plastic, and the famous tortoiseshell combs, as well as brooches, earrings and other jewelry are made from them. Apparently, the invention of plastic saved the hawksbill turtle from complete extermination, although even now this turtle is heavily hunted. Catchers often pour boiling water over live prey in order to remove the horny plates and release the animal back into the sea. At the same time, they naively believe that the crippled turtle will again grow horny cover.

Sea turtles navigate the vast ocean in some special way and, at the right time, unmistakably find the places where they first saw the light. Archie Carr has spent many years studying these turtle abilities and figuring out how they move. It marked many hundreds of animals in breeding areas, and the routes of their wanderings were traced from the specimens caught a second time. Individual tagged turtles swam 2 thousand kilometers, but then invariably returned back.

Archie Carr believes that sea turtles navigate by smell, which is carried by ocean currents, and by the sun; however, these assumptions are poorly substantiated by him, and no one has yet conducted serious experiments. The assumption of orientation by smell is unlikely, since reptiles generally do not have an acute sense of smell. But the fact remains: sea turtles navigate the ocean without any compass, which is why on the Fiji Islands they are considered excellent navigators.

Cheloniidae Oppel, 1811

The average lifespan of sea turtles is 80 years. Females reach sexual maturity at about 30 years of age, when for the first time in their lives they return to the beach where they once hatched. During the entire nesting year, which occurs once every two or four years, the female lays from four to seven clutches of 150-200 eggs. Mating of turtles occurs in water, in the coastal zone, often the amount of sperm received by the female is enough for several clutches.

The method of creating a clutch is the same among all species of sea turtles: the female looks for a suitable place on the beach and begins to rake the sand with her hind legs until a round depression 40-50 centimeters deep is formed. The female lays eggs in this hole (their number depends on many factors), after which she fills it with sand and carefully compacts it, making the clutch as inconspicuous as possible. The whole process takes about an hour, after which the female returns to the ocean and no longer cares for her offspring. Sometimes unfertilized eggs are found in clutches, but not often. The incubation period lasts about two months and directly depends on the temperature of the sand in which the masonry is buried. The future sex of turtles also depends on the temperature; males are born only in a certain temperature “zone”, outside of which females hatch (or the cubs die due to too low or high temperature). After incubation period, small turtles break through the shell with a special egg tooth and climb out into the air through the thickness of the sand.

Already at this stage, mortality among hatched cubs is extremely high. However, most of the turtles that emerge from the sand will never reach pelagic waters, since most of them will be eaten by land predators, and the rest will be awaited by sea predators. The percentage of turtles that have reached sexual maturity per clutch does not exceed hundredths, which is a serious obstacle to the restoration of the sea turtle population.

For quite a long time, the process of growing up of sea turtles was little studied. However, over the past 20 years there have been significant advances in the study of the green turtle, and in 2007 it was proven that green turtles spend the first five years after their birth in the so-called Sargassum “beds”. Sargassum bed), large free-floating algal formations. In the absence of "beds", turtles most likely spend the first years of their lives near pelagic upwelling waters. Characteristic feature The behavior of sea turtles at that time is a predatory lifestyle; they feed on zooplankton and small nekton, and then this stage During their lifetime, almost all turtles become herbivores.

Classification

Extinct species:

Gallery

Notes

Literature

• Ananyeva N. B., Orlov N. L., Khalikov R. G., Darevsky I. S., Ryabov S. A., Barabanov A. V. Atlas of reptiles of Northern Eurasia (taxonomic diversity, geographical distribution and conservation status). - St. Petersburg. : Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2004. - P. 18. - 1000 copies. - ISBN 5-98092-007-2
• Darevsky I. S. Orlov N. L. Rare and endangered animals. Amphibians and reptiles. - M.: graduate School, 1988. P. 143. ISBN 5-06-001429-0
• Kharin V. E. Biota of Russian waters Sea of ​​Japan. T.7. Reptiles. - Vladivostok: Dalnauka, 2008. - pp. 27-28. - 170 s. - ISBN 978-5-8044-0946-4 PDF, 9.3Mb

Links

• The Reptile Database: Cheloniidae(English)

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