THE ANIMAL FILES

Olive ridley sea turtle

Lepidochelys olivacea

A nesting crowd begins in the sea.

Olive ridley turtles forage in several marine settings and return to land for nesting. Mass nesting events draw attention, but nesting timing and clutch size vary across the range. Their broad animal-based diet links them to both seabed communities and open-water prey.[1]

Follow the evidence ↓
Olive ridley sea turtle
Image: Bernard Gagnon · Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Nesting together
Large nesting events are called arribadas.[1]
A variable shell pattern
Side scute counts can differ.[1]
Meals from several communities
Crabs, molluscs and other animals supply food.[1]

Nesting together

Females gather at nesting beaches, sometimes in large concentrations. Nesting is usually at night, but daytime activity occurs during some large arribadas. Timing differs among coasts.[1]

A variable shell pattern

The olive-toned shell is rounded and heart-shaped. Lateral scute counts can vary and may differ between the two sides. Hatchlings have more serrated rear shell margins than adults, adding an age-related difference to the pattern.[1]

Meals from several communities

Prey include crustaceans, molluscs, squid and other marine animals. Jellyfish and fish records also indicate open-water feeding. The same species can therefore connect with prey near the bottom and in the water column rather than using only one feeding habitat.[1]

A COMMON MIX-UP

Does every nesting event occur only at night?

No. Daytime nesting is also recorded, particularly during large arribadas.[1]

TRY A LITTLE REASONING

Why could two turtles of this species have different side-scute counts?

Reveal the explanation

The species shows natural variation, including asymmetry; a fixed count would miss that documented variability.[1]

Sources & editorial notes

Adapted and translated from the cited Wikipedia revisions, with source-linked reasoning. Image credit and licence are listed separately above.

Adapted and translated from Wikipedia contributors; exact revisions are linked below. CC BY-SA 4.0

  1. Wikipedia contributors — Olive ridley sea turtle (cited revision)
  2. NCBI Taxonomy — Lepidochelys olivacea

Last fact check:

One discovery leads to another

Loggerhead sea turtleStrong jaws meet a life that begins among floating weeds.Caretta caretta ↗Green sea turtleThe green in the name is not a promise about the shell.Chelonia mydas ↗Hawksbill sea turtleA narrow hooked beak reaches food among reef structures.Eretmochelys imbricata ↗