Top 10 Interesting Facts about Sea Turtles
Where are sea turtles found?
Here at Kanula, we are passionate about helping to create better lives for sea turtles - a precious part of our beautiful underwater ecosystem. From the warm cyan waters of the Aegean Ocean, the sandy Pacific shores, to the vibrant coral reefs of the Coral Pacific, these majestic creatures glide through nearly every single ocean basin throughout the world.
How sea turtles inspired us to create Kanula
Sea turtles are truly at the heart of Kanula and are how it was born! After a trip away to the magical island of Skiathos in Greece, we discovered the nesting of turtles and how they weren't given enough support by charities and organisations, which is how Kanula was conceived. Upon leaving Greece, we knew our vision exactly and wanted to focus on creating a sustainable clothing brand to help give back to the planet and help raise funds for the turtles.
Working with the sea turtle conservancy, a small charity ran by passionate and dedicated individuals, Kanula gives 8% of every purchase made directly to the charity. Take a deeper dive and brush up on your Sea Turtle knowledge with us by checking out these interesting facts about the amazing lives of sea turtles!
#1. Sea turtles are an ancient species and lived when Dinosaurs existed. Its estimated sea turtles have been living for 110 million years!
#2. Their younger years remain something humans know little about. Dubbed the 'lost years' due to the fact that the time when the hatchlings first emerge until they return to the shallows of the ocean as teenagers is extremely hard to study. Meaning there is about a 20 year gap that is very much a mystery to researchers!
#3. All seven species (the hawksbill, loggerhead, leatherback, olive ridley, green, flatback, and the kemps ridley) are sadly now threatened or endangered, with the Hawksbill and Olive Ridley now currently critically endangered.
#4. They cannot retract into their shells like other species of turtles. Unlike other species of turtles - the sea turtle doesn't have to protect itself from predators for most of there life in water, and this make up allows them to be more agile when cruising the depths of the oceans. However this anatomy does make them highly vulnerable when in the nesting and hatching stages of their lives.
#5. They can make some peculiar sounds! When nesting, female leatherbacks often make a sound that resembles a human belch.
#6. They can hold their breath for five hours underwater. To make this happen, they actually slow their heart rate to up to nine minutes in between heartbeats as a way to conserve oxygen - which is pretty incredible!
#7. Sea turtles migrate enormous distances across their lifetimes often through many Oceans and continents. The leatherback turtle often makes the longest journies out of species and can cruise the oceans for up to 16,000km or more each year in search of jellyfish! The longest known record was a female leatherback who swam almost 13,000 miles in 647 days - travelling the distance between Indonesia and America's West Coast. Both male and females migrate lengthy distances between their foraging grounds and beaches to nest on.
#8. No matter what distances they travel, Female Turtles always return home - back to very the beach they first hatched on. This is so they can then lay their own eggs and bury them safely in sand nests. They are able to navigate the planet by using their incredible superpower - a high sensitivity to the earth magnetic fields
#9. Unlike female sea Turtles, male sea turtles never actually leave the ocean, as they do not need to go to the beaches to nest and hatch like females do.
#10. Although sea turtles don't many face threats from other animals, they face many threats and perils caused by humans. Getting caught in fishing gear is probably one of the biggest threats to turtles, alongside the risk of ingesting human rubbish, which it is now estimated that occurs so frequently that it happens to 50% of sea turtles.
