Sea Turtle Conservation Project, Saona Island: Hatchling to Juvenile and Beyond

What happens when a baby sea turtle enters the water at 3 days old? The answer is we don't really know. Baby sea turtles are difficult to track because today's tracking devises are too big to put on hatchlings.

Satelite tracker on adult sea turtle.

What we do know:
The baby sea turtle needs to get to the water as quickly as possible to avoid getting eaten by predators (birds, small mammals, crabs).
Once the baby sea turtle is in the water it needs to get away from the shallow shore waters where predators such as sharks and big fish are ready for an easy meal.
The baby sea turtle needs to find food.

Natural predators of Sea Turtles.

So the baby sea turtles part take in what is called a swimming frenzie where they try to get to the deeper waters as soon as possible. They often get sweeped up by sea currents or travel by a type of sea weed (Sargassum) that floats on these currents. If they can find a patch of floating vegetation they are protected from predators and have a source of food. These currents take them for houndreds (sometimes even thousands) of kilometers. They stay in these currents for years until they have reached the sub-adult stage.

Juvenile Hawksbill Sea Turtles.

Juvenile Hawksbill Sea Turtle.

In their sub-adult stage they come back to the shallow shore waters to feed on sponges, anemones and squid that live in the coral. The Hawksbill Sea Turtle reaches sexual maturity at around 10-25 years of age. This depends on many factors such as food availability and population size. They live up to 50 years old.