Loggerhead Sea Turtles can be found around the world. One subspecies is found in the eastern Mediterranean. Caretta caretta is endangered because of human activity. Humans are also working to protect this creature.
The Loggerhead Sea Turtles are the only member of the genus Caretta. Caretta is a Latin, meaning turtle, or tortoise. This sea turtle has a large head, blunt jaws, and can be identified by the five scutes along the middle of its carapace. Adults average about 200 pounds, about 100 kg, and can be 1 m long. Caretta feeds on mollusks, crustaceans, and any other marine animals they can crush with their powerful jaw.
Loggerheads live most of their life in open water. They spend time on the open sea floor, and mainly forage along the shore. Most loggerheads live at least 30 years, and can often live past 50 years.
In the Mediterranean, sea turtles mate from late March to early June, along the migration routes between breeding and feeding sites. They reach sexual maturity at around 35 years old, and nest every two to three years. Females return to lay their eggs on or near the same beach where they hatched. They nest in June and July, laying a clutch of 100 to 126 eggs - each approximately the size of a ping-pong ball. The eggs incubate for two months.
Loggerheads live in three ecosystems during their lives. They nest on ocean beaches, preferring steep sloped beaches. After hatchlings emerge from the nest, they to move to the shore and swim, and get swept through the surf zone, into open waters. Young loggerheads converge where there are accumulations of seaweed. About a decade later, juveniles migrate to coastal areas and continue maturing until adulthood.
Sea turtles are vital to the ecosystem. For instance, they eat sea grasses growing on the sea floor. This grass must be kept short to remain healthy and available for breeding areas for many species of fish. Loss of sea grass beds means loss of all species depending on the beds. Beaches and dunes are fragile ecosystems that need nutrients to support vegetation, which prevents erosion. Sea turtles contribute nutrients as they lay countless numbers of eggs. Hatched egg shells as well as eggs that never hatch are nutrients for dune vegetation.
Sea turtles have thrived for more than 100 million years. Now they struggle for a future. They were listed as threatened throughout their range by the Endangered Species Act in 1978. Their most formidable enemy is the human. Loggerhead Sea Turtles were once hunted for meat and eggs. Their fat was used in cosmetics and medicines. Today, habitat destruction, human activity, and pollution are causing sea turtle population to fall at an alarming rate. They are threatened by fishing nets. Adults are also injured by propellers, and fish hooks.
People are responding. There are a variety of opportunities to protect the loggerheads. Zakynthos, http://www.toplink.gr/gr … index.html Peloponnese, http://www.toplink.gr/gr … index.html and Crete http://www.toplink.gr/gr … index.html are major nesting areas and volunteers monitor the beaches. In early spring, rescue preparations begin. While the sea turtles are mating, workers are recruiting volunteers and updating brochures. As nesting season nears, beaches are cleaned. Once turtles arrive, volunteers start night patrols of the beach. Each has received training on night patrolling, including learning a careful walking style. Each turtle's tag is checked; if there isn't one, a tag is attached. The volunteers try to count the eggs, and note the turtle's apparent health.
Saving sea turtles includes educating both residents and tourists. Volunteers spend the day talking, distributing brochures outlining human threats, providing suggestions on what can be done.

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