NGM202 - The Loggerhead turtle
Nature's Greatest Moments • 4m 30s
For loggerhead turtles, procreation occurs against unbelievable odds - only two of every 1000 tiny turtles hatched survive. They emerge from their subterranean incubation chambers above the high water mark on the same beaches that gave birth to their mothers. Although the little turtles hatch simultaneously for safety in numbers and during the cooler security of night, the stretch of sea sand to the ocean is riddled with lurking beach predators and once engulfed by the oceans waves, no respite is offered against sharks and other ocean predators. The passage to the Agulhus current is a hard one for the little creatures with only enough yolk to last five days. Latecomers are almost certainly doomed as they face the same battlefield by day, alone, and at the mercy of waiting ghost crabs.
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