Australian flatback sea turtle , Australian flatback sea turtle
The Australian flatback sea turtle (Natator depressus ) is a species of sea turtle in the family Cheloniidae. The species is endemic to the sandy beaches and shallow coastal waters of the Australian continental shelf. This turtle gets its common name from the fact that its shell has a flattened or lower dome than the other sea turtles. It can be olive green to grey with a cream underside. It averages from 76 to 96 cm (30 to 38 inches) in carapace length and can weigh from 70 to 90 kg (154 to 198 lb). The hatchlings, when emerging from nests, are larger than other sea turtle hatchlings when they hatch.
The flatback turtle is listed by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as data deficient, meaning there is insufficient scientific information to determine its conservation status at this time. It was previously listed as vulnerable in 1994. It is not as threatened as other sea turtles due to its small dispersal range. This animal can be 31 to 37 inches long and about 100 kg in weight
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DiurnalDiurnal animals are active during the daytime, with a period of sleeping or other inactivity at night. The timing of activity by an animal depends ...
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NocturnalNocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal",...
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CarnivoreA carnivore meaning 'meat eater' is an organism that derives its energy and nutrient requirements from a diet consisting mainly or exclusively of a...
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MolluscivoreA molluscivore is a carnivorous animal that specializes in feeding on molluscs such as gastropods, bivalves, brachiopods, and cephalopods. Known mo...
An omnivore is an animal that has the ability to eat and survive on both plant and animal matter. Obtaining energy and nutrients from plant and ani...
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AquaticAn aquatic animal is an animal, either vertebrate or invertebrate, which lives in water for most or all of its life. It may breathe air or extract ...
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BurrowingA burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct ...
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PrecocialPrecocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
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NatatorialNatatorial animals are those adapted for swimming. Some fish use their pectoral fins as the primary means of locomotion, sometimes termed labriform...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
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SolitaryNo
Not a migrantAnimals that do not make seasonal movements and stay in their native home ranges all year round are called not migrants or residents.
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MigratingAnimal migration is the relatively long-distance movement of individual animals, usually on a seasonal basis. It is the most common form of migrati...
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starts withThe Flatback sea turtle is native to the sandy beaches and shallow coastal waters of the Australian continental shelf. This turtle gets its common name from the fact that its shell has a flattened or lower dome than the other sea turtles. It can be olive green to grey in color with a cream underside. The females of this species are larger than the males in adulthood and also have longer tails than their male counterparts.
Flatback sea turtles are found in Northern Australia, the Tropic of Capricorn, and in Papua New Guinea. Within Australia, they are distributed in the areas of eastern Queensland, Torres Strait and Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Territory, and Western Australia. These turtles inhabit the continental shelf and coastal waters of tropic regions. They can be found in grassy areas, bays, lagoons, estuaries, and any place with a soft-bottomed sea bed.
Flatback sea turtles spend all their life in shallow, soft-bottomed coastal waters. They do not travel long distances in the open ocean for migrations like other sea turtles and can typically be found in waters of 60 m (200 ft) or less in depth. Males never leave the water while females come out on land only to lay eggs and nest only at night. Flatback sea turtles spend their time on their own and move quickly in the ocean; however, on land, they are slow and also defenseless. They feed mostly on the prey found within the shallow waters where they swim.
Flatback sea turtles have a carnivorous diet. They feed mostly on soft corals, sea cucumbers, shrimp, jellyfish, mollusks, and other invertebrates. They will also occasionally feed on seagrasses, even though they rarely eat vegetation.
Flatback sea turtles breed every two to three years. The nesting season can go from November to January or can last the entire year. Females are able to lay up to 4 times throughout the nesting season, and the intervals between nesting can be 13-18 days. While using her front flippers to dig, the female will clear away the dry sand located at the top. After she clears the sand, the female will create an egg chamber using her back flippers. After she has laid her eggs, she will then cover the nest again using her back flippers, while also tossing sand back with her front flippers. She then returns to the ocean, leaving the eggs untended. The clutch will have an average of 50 eggs that are about 55 mm (2.2 in) long. The sex of the hatchling is determined by the temperature of the sand that the egg is in. If the temperature is below 29 °C (84 °F), the hatchling will be a male, and if the temperature is above this 29 °C it will be female. Baby sea turtles begin to leave their nests during the beginning of December, and the clutches will continue to hatch until late March. The peak of hatchling emergence can be seen during February. The young usually stay close to shore and will feed on the macroplankton present in their surface-dwelling environment. They will reach reproductive maturity and start to breed anywhere between 7-50 years of age.
Like all marine turtles, Flatback sea turtles are faced with threats such as habitat loss, the wildlife trade, collection of eggs, collection of meat, by-catch, pollution, and climate change. Flatback sea turtles are specifically threatened by the direct harvest of eggs and meat by the indigenous people of Australia for traditional hunting.[ These people are given the right to harvest by the government, but only if for non-commercial purposes. Another threat is the destruction of nesting beaches due to coastal development and the destruction of feeding sites at coral reefs and the shallow areas near the shore. Camping on these beaches compacts the sand and contributes to dune erosion, and the wheel ruts caused by vehicles driving on the beaches can trap the hatchlings on their journey to the sea. Coastal development contributes to barriers that make it difficult or impossible for adult turtles to reach nesting and feeding sites. Flatback sea turtles also fall prey to incidental capture. They are caught by fishermen, particularly by trawling, gillnet fishing, ghost nets, and crab pots. Lastly, pollution is a serious concern for this creature. Pollution can affect the timing of egg-laying, how it chooses its nesting site, how hatchlings find the sea after emerging, and how adult turtles find the beaches.
There is no overall population estimate available for the Flatback sea turtle. However, according to the Sea Turtle Conservancy resource, the total population size of the nesting females is between 20,000 and 21,000 individuals. Currently, this species is classified as Data Deficient (DD) on the IUCN Red List.
Flashback sea turtles play key roles in their ecosystem. They use beaches and sand dunes to lay their eggs. Such coastal environments are nutrient-poor and depend on vegetation to protect against erosion. Eggs hatched or unhatched, and hatchlings that fail to make it into the ocean are nutrient sources for dune vegetation and therefore protecting these nesting habitats for sea turtles, forming a positive feedback loop. Sea turtles also maintain a symbiotic relationship with Yellow tang, in which the fish will eat algae growing on the shell of a sea turtle.
