Sea turtles have long fascinated both biologists and conservationists. All of the seven species found in the world’s oceans are listed as either endangered or threatened. Of these,five species are found in waters of the Indian subcontinent. On this part of the site you can learn about the species, distribution, biology, life history and the identification of sea turtles.
Over millions of years of their existence, sea turtles have evolved a variety of remarkable strategies for survival. They use a wide range of habitats (sandy beaches, coral reefs, sea grass beds, etc.), thus playing a critical role as flagship species for the conservation of the oceans’ ecosystems and diversity. Many of these habitats face mounting threats today around the world. Sea turtles are also an important part of the traditional culture of many coastal indigenous peoples all round the world.
Sea turtles migrate long distances between their feeding grounds and nesting sites. After they hatch and return to the sea, only the females return as adults to nest, males may never come back to land at all. Consequently, knowledge of their biology has been confined to the small time interval when they come on to land to nest. Thus there are many questions that scientists are only just beginning to understand: Where do the hatchlings go after they leave the nesting beach? Does the turtle come back to nest on the same beach where it hatched? How do females navigate to the same nesting beaches again & again, covering several thousand kilometres?