Hey guys I’m Billy and I’m a Hawksbill turtle. We get our name from our narrow pointed beak that looks like the beak of a hawk. We use this pointed beak to eat tasty sponges which grow in crevices of coral reefs. That’s sea sponges like the one in the picture not sponges you use to do the washing up!
- Nom nom nom!
We also like to eat sea anemones and jellyfish but don’t worry we don’t get stung. As adults we can weigh up to 70kg which is about the same as a medium sized person but we only grow to roughly 80cm in length. We like to nest all over the world but our love of the coral reef buffet means that our major nesting sites are found on the coast of the Caribbean, central and south America,
- Lots and lots of babies!
Australia and the beaches surrounding the red sea. We lay relatively large amounts of eggs, about 160 eggs in each nest and we lay 3-6 times per season. Oh and of course our babies are the cutest!
Our carapace (remember that’s science talk for shell) can be orange, yellow or brown with a “tortoiseshell” pattern. The segments that make up our carapace (called scutes) overlap and the edges are serrated like a knife. Our unusual shells make us very desirable to poachers and we are killed to make jewelry or ornaments. We are classified as critically endangered which means we are at high risk of extinction in the near future. Our population is estimated at only 20,000 to 23,000 nesting females which is very low so we are in need of a lot of help.
Our shells are very pretty and people make ornaments out of them
Fact File
- Scientific name: Eretmochelys imbricata
- Adult weight: 46-70kg
- Adult length: 71-89cm
- Major nesting sites: Caribbean, Australia, Coast of the red sea
- Favourite foods: Sponges, sea anemones and jellyfish
- Number of eggs in a nest: 160 (on average)
Paddy the Sea Turtle 