Sea turtles are known to be some of the oldest animals living today and have existed about 110 million years ago. Sea turtles, known as sea reptiles, are one of four reptiles that have adapted to life in the sea, the rest being crocodiles, sea iguanas and sea snakes. Many sea turtles do not mature until they are around 20 years old, so it should come as no surprise that some can live for a long time. But how old is the oldest sea turtle in the world? We will discover the oldest sea turtles and see how they differ from other turtles.
Background on sea turtles
Sea turtles can be easily distinguished from other turtles by their limbs, which are actually flippers, and by the shape of their shell, which is long and tapering at each end, which means they cannot pull their head under it for protection. Today there are seven species of sea turtles: leatherback turtle, hawk beak, olive ridley, Kemp’s ridley, green, loggerhead and flatback. Sea turtles are found in almost every ocean around the world, with the exception of the polar regions, and some of them are known to migrate very long distances.
Most sea turtles are omnivorous and eat a variety of algae, jellyfish, squid, and barnacles, although the green sea turtle is a herbivore and they use their front flippers to grab and hold food. Sea turtles are excellent swimmers and can spend up to 40 minutes underwater foraging for themselves.
Sea turtles spend most of their life at sea, and in fact only females go ashore, and even then only to lay their eggs. Females go to the beach under cover of darkness and dig a hole in the sand using flippers, and then lay a clutch of eggs (usually 60 to 180) and then cover them up. Incredibly, female sea turtles even make some false nests to try and protect their eggs from predators before they return to sea without looking back.
Tiny chicks about 1 inch in length are born after 60 days and are sent to the sea after leaving the nest. Having reached the sea, they swim out into open water, where they remain for many years until they reach maturity. Only after they have matured do they return to the waters off the coastline to begin breeding.
Life span of a sea turtle
The life span of turtles ranges from 30 to 80 years, depending on the species. However, there is a lot of guesswork when trying to age sea turtles, as they spend most of their time at sea, and there is no really reliable method for aging them.
Ridley Kempa are the smallest sea turtles, and although not much is known about their lifespan, it is estimated to be at least 30 years. Olive Ridley sea turtles have a lifespan of about 50 years, while sea turtles have a lifespan of 50 to 60 years. The average lifespan of green turtles is 70 years, while flat and loggerheads can also live from 70 to 80 years. Leather sea turtles are the largest sea turtles and are estimated to have a lifespan of over 50 years, but little is really known about their longevity. Leather backs can also dive deeper and travel further than any others. The leatherback traveled 10,000 miles to nesting sites and dived up to 4,000 feet.
The oldest sea turtle in the world
The oldest sea turtle in the world was probably around 100 years old and was washed ashore in the United Kingdom. However, there are reports of older sea turtles worth seeing.
Several websites will list the oldest sea turtle at over 400 years old. This is ostensibly very old a turtle lives in an aquarium in the Chinese city of Guangzhou. We searched everywhere to find the original source of this report, but we couldn’t find anything. The oldest living animal on land is a tortoise named Jonathan, which was born less than 200 years ago (less than half the age of the specified sea turtle). Some marine animals can reach very old ages, such as the Greenland shark, which can reach about 500 years of age.
However, the Greenland shark has several adaptations to reach such an advanced age, and its unlikely sea turtles can reach such an advanced age. Best candidate for the oldest sea turtle ever washed ashore over 30 years ago.
The leather sea turtle, which was washed ashore in Wales in the UK in 1988, was the largest sea turtle ever recorded, weighing 2,019 pounds and estimated to be around 100 years old. Scientists were fairly confident in the age of this sea turtle due to its sheer size, and it is arguably the most reliable record as one of the oldest sea turtles in the world. This huge sea turtle has survived and has been on display at the National Museum of Wales since 1990.
Animals that take a long time to reach maturity tend to live longer. Because turtles take 20 years to reach maturity, they can be a species that has a lifespan of over 100 years. In sea turtles, the heart rate at the surface is about 25 beats per minute, but when diving, they can drop their heart rate to 1 beat per minute. Like other centenarians, a lower heart rate can lead to an increase in life expectancy.
How do sea turtles compare to other turtles and turtles?
In general, the life span of sea turtles is the same as that of other turtles, as well as of freshwater turtles. The Blanding turtle was believed to be 83 years old when it was captured in the forest reserve by the University of Michigan in 2016. The female turtle has been caught several times since 1954 as part of an ongoing study. Alligator turtles are estimated to have a lifespan of around 100 years.
However, as noted earlier, turtles live much longer than sea turtles: the Seychelles giant tortoise is currently the oldest land animal at 189 years old. Jonathan hatched around 1832, and there is even a photograph of him in adulthood in 1886.
Conservation: are sea turtles at risk?
Unfortunately, all seven species of sea turtles are considered endangered: loggerheads and green sea turtles are classified as endangered, while the hawk turtles and Kemp’s riddles are endangered. Leatherback sea turtles and olive ridleys are considered vulnerable. Although there is no IUCN Red List data for flat turtles, they are classified as an endangered species in their native Australia.
Although the only natural predators of adult sea turtles are large sharks and crocodiles, predators still play a role in their decline as they threaten eggs and hatched calves. Birds, crabs, fish and raccoons often prey on juvenile sea turtles, and only 1 in 1000 live to adulthood.
Unfortunately, sea turtles have to worry not only about natural predators, but also about us humans. Sea turtles are often caught in fishing nets due to by-catch, plastic waste and pollution. Sea turtles often do not understand that plastic is not food and they eat it, which causes illness and even death. Even climate change is affecting these majestic animals as their nesting sites are rapidly disappearing.