Breeding

Mating takes place on the water's surface. A few nights later, the female hauls herself up the beach and digs a large hole with her front flippers. She lays about 100 hard-shelled eggs into the hole, each about the size of a table-tennis ball. Then she pushes the sand back into the hole to cover the eggs and returns to the sea - the whole process having taken several hours.

Over the next few weeks, the female will lay several batches of eggs. These hatch 2-3 months later during the hours of darkness and the tiny baby turtles dig their way to the surface. Then they scamper down to the sea, apparently guided by the light of the moon on the waves.

Out of the 100 eggs laid, only about one or two hatchlings will survive their first year. The sex of hatchlings is determined by their incubation temperature. At 32 °C the sex is 1:1, and at 28°C all the hatchlings will be male.