SEA TURTLE TALK
Turtle Body Parts:
Carapace: The top shell of a sea turtle.
Flippers: Work like arms and legs. Mother sea turtles use them to dig nests.
Plastron: Bottom shell of a sea turtle.
Scutes: small plates that make up the top shell of a sea turtle.
Life Cycle:
Boil: When baby sea turtles emerge from their nests. Dozens of hatchlings pop out of the sand at the same time.
Eggs: Sea turtle eggs are the size of a ping pong ball. They are white and leathery.
Egg Tooth: special tip of a hatchling’s beak which helps it emerge from the shell.
Nest: A sea turtle nest is on the beach away from water. It is hard work for the turtle to crawl out of the water to build the nest. Mother sea turtles create many nests in one season.
Nesting- Sea turtle drags herself to dry sand and digs. A turtle lays several nests in one season, one every 4-6 weeks.
Hatch: When an egg breaks and a baby sea turtle comes out of the egg.
Hatchlings: baby sea turtles.
Environment Words
Endangered: Not many left in the world.
Extinct: None left of a certain creature.
Gulf Stream: a place where sea turtles go to eat and grow.
Predators: sea gulls, ghost crabs, raccoons, and other animals that eat sea turtles.
Sargassum weed: a plant in the Gulf Stream where sea turtles hide and grow.
Threatened: it is in danger of becoming extinct.