Loggerhead Sea Turtles are the largest hard shelled sea turtles, and they occur in all oceans in the world. The Leatherback is larger, but it has a softshell.

Distribution

The only other sea turtle with a wider distribution among the oceans of the world is the Leatherback Sea Turtle. However, the Loggerhead has the widest array of nesting sites of any sea turtle in the world, and can be found nesting along the Caribbean and Mediterranean Sea. They also nest in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.

It inhabits mangrove swamps, beaches, oceans and lagoons. In Cost Rica, it is found in Tortuguero National Park, Cahuita National Park, Gandoca-Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge, Playa Blancas and Puerto Vargas on the Caribbean Coast.

Mating & Reproduction

Males compete for the right to procreate by fighting with one another. When the female reaches 17 years old, she is sexually mature enough to reproduce. She will show that she is ready by releasing pheromones through her cloaca. The males may continue fighting with one another even after one has successfully mounted a female. Females resist the males’ initial mounting attempts.

Loggerheads tend to mate along migration routes from feeding to nesting sites, which is unusual among sea turtles. Once the female has become impregnated, she will climb the beach onto shore after a short gestation period. During the course of mating, which in the northern hemisphere is from March to June, the female will probably mate with multiple males. She stores their sperm, and uses it to fertilize her eggs at will.

Female loggerheads return to the beach where they hatched from to lay their eggs. They usually produce a clutch of more than a hundred eggs, and they may return to the beach every two weeks or so to lay more eggs.

Behavior

Loggerheads are primarily diurnal, and consume gastropods, bivalves, decapods, sponges, corals, sea anemones, starfish, squid and jellyfish. They spend the majority of their day submerged, and they dive for periods between 15-30 minutes at a time. When prompted to it, they can stay under water for four hours.

Unlike other sea turtles, female Loggerheads compete, threaten and fight over food at their feeding grounds. Loggerheads are not just territorial in their own species, but they will also fight with other species of Sea Turtles over feeding grounds.

Miscellaneous Info

Loggerhead Turtles have a long list of predators on land, in the sea and from the sky. They are preyed upon by some animals even before they are born, and they may get picked off after they have hatched, as well. Some of their enemies include sharks, killer whales and seals in the ocean; lizards, crabs, snakes and toads on the land and seabirds from the sky.

Where to see it in Costa Rica: Tortuguero National Park, Cahuita National Park, Gandoca-Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge, Playa Blanca, Puerto Vargas
Diet: gastropods, bivalves, decapods, sponges, corals, sea anemones, starfish, squid, jellyfish
Migration Pattern: 7,500 miles from feeding to nesting sites in the Pacific
Habitat: mangrove swamps, beaches, oceans, lagoons
Size: length=1 m weight=80 kg
Species: Caretta caretta