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About Sea Turtles on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Coastlines up and down the coastal United States have all kinds of critters. You have an abundant amount of birds, crabs, rodents, insects and more. If you spend any time and the beach you will see all of these things. But one species in particular uses the beaches as a necessary key to reproduction.

Sea turtles spend most of their time in the ocean. They grow and gather food in this giant body of water. But when it comes to laying their eggs, they need sandy dry land that will go undisturbed. In shallow nests, the turtles will deposit her eggs and leave them be.

Once the turtle eggs hatch, they make a mad dash to the ocean. Afterall, this is where their natural habitat allows them to find food. Unfortunately, only about 1 in 1,000-10,000 of these baby turtles will survive to live a full life. It truly is a cruel world for baby sea turtles. Natural predators and rough conditions spell doom for the overwhelming majority of them.

To make matters worse, human activity on the beaches themselves have reduced the amount of nests. People interfere with the natural order of things when it comes to sea turtles laying their eggs on the beach. As a result we have seen the number of nests decline here in the Outer Banks, even in just the last 5 years:

• 2019 – 473 nests
• 2022 – 379 nests
• 2023 – 378 nests

source: seaturtle.org

A sea turtle can live between 50-100 years. Some very old sea turtles have been discovered over the years. Some scientists claim that sea turtles can live up to 500 years old but proving this claim has been a challenge.

Baby sea turtles will usually stay within 10 km of where they were hatched for years before they have gained the size and experience to venture out farther.

If you see little ping pong ball like objects on the beach do not handle them. They are sea turtle eggs and are can be destroyed by being handled. Also, if you see baby sea turtles in the sand, just let them be. They have to find their own way to the water and every second of experience on the sand contributes to their learning process.