Reptile Migration

The best known migratory reptiles are turtles.  Turtles live most of their lives in the sea, except for when it is time for the females to lay their eggs.  They then head to their breeding beaches, haul themselves out of the water, lay and then bury their eggs in the sand before heading back to the sea once again.  These beaches can be thousands of miles from the turtles’ feeding grounds. When the tiny baby turtles hatch, they immediately crawl their way down the beach to the safety of the sea without the guidance of their parents. 

Baby Loggerhead turtles can find their way along a 13000km migration route without guidance from their parents. Even when scientists have led them off course, they found their way back without any problem. But when they were exposed to a variety of magnetic fields that were different to the Earth’s magnetic field, they went off course, only to go the correct way when the Earth’s magnetic field was restored!

One leatherback turtle made the longest recorded water journey: 20,558km in 647 days!