The turtle that lays its eggs on Cable Beach, indeed the largest eggs of any marine turtle and the largest hatchlings, is the flatback, which is endemic to Australia. Flatbacks lay on average 54 eggs per nest, about half the number laid by green turtles. Hopefully, the larger size of the hatchlings helps to protect them from predators lurking in near shore waters. Flatbacks spend their lives almost exclusively within the Australian continental shelf, although they do undertake long migrations of over 1000 km between foraging grounds and nesting locations, but they never venture out into the vast open ocean. Flatbacks need looking after however, as they are vulnerable to extinction. So keeping cars off beaches during nesting periods is imperative and wouldnt it be cool to rid Broome of plastic shopping bags :). © Kevin Smith
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 00:46:54 +0000
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