What sea turtle species have you seen?

Which sea turtle species have you seen?

  • Total voters
    84
HayBrand said:
Not Sure if they're still in captivity, but there were some at a few Zoos in Darwin, NT, Aus
As well as the occasional rescue at AQWA, Territory Wildlife Park and Crocodylus Park
Click to expand...

Historically, have any bred in captivity? or has any facility made such an attempt? and do you have photographs of the animals that were rescued at these facilities you listed?
 
I've seen Green (wild and in rehabilitation centres), Hawksbill (rehabilitation centres), Loggerhead (Osaka Aquarium) and Flatback (Melbourne Aquarium)
 
Anyone interested in sea turtles who finds themselves in the Houston, Texas area should visit Galveston Island, where the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Fisheries Service laboratory offers tours by appointment (or at least did before CoVid) of their sea turtle hatchery, where they hatch loggerheads, but also hold other species rescued that are either being rehabilitated or are permanently disabled and can't be released into the wild. I've heard that this facility may be changing its name/hands, and will be called The Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research, a cooperation between Texas A&M University-Galveston, the National Park Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. I don't know how the change will affect tour availability.
 
Only Green- at Bermuda Aquarium, Museum & Zoo & Sea Life Blankenberge and in the wild in Harrington Sound, Bermuda

I had it in my head the turtle I saw at Blankenberge was a loggerhead (trip was over a decade ago) but looking at ZTL it seems I was mistaken.
 
oflory said:
Are there any flatback seaturtles in captivity?
Click to expand...
Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium currently have Flatback Turtles and there most recent ones arrived in 2019 from Curtis Island, Queensland. They are currently off-show for oceanarium upgrades but should go back on show soon once construction is complete. Here is an article from a few years ago about them: SEA LIFE Melbourne's new Flatback Turtles
 
WhistlingKite24 said:
Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium currently have Flatback Turtles and there most recent ones arrived in 2019 from Curtis Island, Queensland. They are currently off-show for oceanarium upgrades but should go back on show soon once construction is complete. Here is an article from a few years ago about them: SEA LIFE Melbourne's new Flatback Turtles
Click to expand...

Are there any flatbacks at SEA LIFE Sydney or Sea World Gold Coast?
 
I have seen all of them other than leatherback and flatback. I have also been fortunate to see loggerhead and green in the wild.
 
Have definitely seen Green, Hawksbill and Loggerhead in zoos. And Green and Flatback (including watching them hatch and run into the water) in the wild.

Not really a group that I usually pay much attention to in zoos. It 's possible that I saw one of the Ridleys or Flatback and just don't remember.
I've also seen heaps of turtles in the wild on different diving/snorkeling trips (Egypt, Thailand, Australia, Fiji, ...) but that was before my listing days. My logbook just has them down as sea turtle. So my wild list may or may not be longer. Might be fun to look through some of the old photos again to find out.

Leatherback is one of my few big herping targets for the future though.
 
All but the flat back.Sightings in mostly in Mexico, but some in Cuba and Brazil. Leatherbacks as hatchlings in a release program from a protected nest.
 
Green, loggerhead, and Kemp's ridley. I thought I'd seen four in total (not a specific fourth one, but if I had had to guess I probably would have said hawksbill) but those are the only ones on my list.

I'm intrigued by the one(?) person who presumably has seen a sea turtle, but not green.
 
Wild:
Green sea turtle (laying eggs on the beach during night time in Costa Rica. Seen while snorkling in Mexico)
Hawksbill sea turtle (Seen while snorkling in the Red Sea/Egypt)
Loggerhead sea turtle (From a boat in the Mediterranean, both Spain and Turkey)

Captivity only:
Olive ridley sea turtle (Pairi Daiza (BE))

I hope to be able to see leatherbacks some day!
 
I haven’t seen any wild sea turtles as I have only seen ones in captivity and I have seen only seen two species of sea turtles both at the adventure aquarium in Camden New Jersey and the two species of turtles are the loggerhead and green sea turtles.
 
Sea turtles are somewhat quite common in aquariums in Indonesia, as well in some zoos. But, they're always green sea turtles and sometimes hawksbill sea turtle, which I've seen both in several facilities. Sea turtles farms are quite prominent in Indonesia, though again, mostly have those species and in some cases Olive Ridley sea turtles.
 
Green sea turtles in captivity:
- Sea life Blankenberge
- Sea life Scheveningen
- Wildlands Emmen
- Rotterdam zoo
- Aquarium La Rochelle

Green sea turtles in the wild:
- On Curacao near a pier where they dumped fish heads and other food waste
- In Suriname on a special tour where we saw multiple babies coming onto the beach, we helped multiple nests reach the shore safely, and saw the mothers digging the nests and laying eggs

Hawksbill sea turtles in captivity:
- Rotterdam zoo

Leatherback sea turtle in the wild:
- In Suriname on a protected beach, although not on a special tour. We had a lot of luck with this one as she came on shore quite early when it was still light out
 
DaLilFishie said:
I've seen Green (wild and in rehabilitation centres), Hawksbill (rehabilitation centres), Loggerhead (Osaka Aquarium) and Flatback (Melbourne Aquarium)
Click to expand...
Since this post, my total species count has remained at four, but I have now seen Hawksbill and Loggerhead in the wild (both at the same site - the wreck of the SS Yongala off Ayr, Queensland) - bringing my wild sea turtle species count to 3. I can also add seeing Loggerhead at SEA LIFE Sydney.
 
I've gotten 8 aquariums in my life ( L’Aquàrium de Barcelona,, Aquarium of the Bay, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Shedd Aquarium, New England Aquarium, Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay, Coral World Ocean Park, and Steinhart Aquarium at California Academy of Sciences). Out of them, I've seen at least 3 sea turtle species. I have not seen wild sea turtles yet but will hopefully soon on my trip to Nassau in a couple weeks.

  • L’Aquàrium de Barcelona interestingly doesn't have any Sea turtles and only has 1-2 species of turtle
  • I went to Aquarium of the Bay in the early 2010s, and they also don't have Sea turtles
  • I also went to Monterey Bay in the early 2010s but there are Green Sea Turtle Chelonia mydas
  • I went to Shedd Aquarium last summer, but missed out on seeing Nickel the Green Sea Turtle
  • At my home aquarium, New England Aquarium, I've seen Green Sea Turtles Chelonia mydas (most notably, Myrtle), and Loggerhead Sea Turtles Caretta caretta. In the old viewing panel of the sea turtle rehabilitation center, I saw Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle Lepidochelys kempii
  • When I was at Mandalay Bay Shark Reef Aquarium last week, I saw two individuals of Green Sea Turtles Chelonia mydas in the impressive shipwreck aquarium
  • From my best memories of my short trip at Coral World Ocean Park in 2018, I remember Green Sea Turtles Chelonia mydas but there might've been more species present
  • Steinhart Aquarium lacks Sea turtles but has several turtle species

Based on this, Green Sea Turtles Chelonia mydas are the most prevalent Sea turtle species that I've seen, and based on Zoochat, it's likely the most common sea turtle species in captivity
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top