Sea Turtle Recovery Action Plan for St. Kitts and Nevis - WIDECAST

St. Kitts and Nevis Sea Turtles…
TURTLES
Allison Percival
Grade 6A, Molineux Primary, October 1992
Turtles are reptiles with shells. The top shell and the bottom shell join at the sides. The turtle,
like all reptiles, is "cold-blooded". This means that its temperature is cold blooded and stays the
same as the temperature of its surroundings, air or water. Freshwater turtles like other turtles can
be beautiful or ugly. Their names often tell you which they are. The Painted turtle and the Mud
turtle both live in ponds but you know which is handsomer. The ugliness of a turtle can be to its
advantage. The Matamata, a South American turtle, looks like a floating log. Large sea turtles
spend almost all of their life in the sea. The female comes out on land only to lay her eggs.
Turtles lay from 2 to 200 eggs at one time, depending on the variety of turtle. There are seven
types of sea turtle: Green turtle, Flatback, Hawksbill, Loggerhead, Atlantic Ridley, Pacific
Ridley, and Leatherback. The Leatherback is a different turtle to all of the turtles, it is also one
of the largest turtles in the sea. After two months the little hatchlings will hatch. They are only 2
inches big when they will find themself walking on the sand.
TURTLES
Joanne Williams
Grade 6A, Molineux Primary, October 1992
Interviewee: Estella Williams
* * *
There are seven types of turtles. The Green turtle, the Flatback, the Hawksbill, the Loggerhead,
the Atlantic Ridley, the Pacific Ridley. They all have hard shells. The largest turtle is the
Leatherback. It has a leathery "shell". The turtles live in three destinations. They are land, sea,
and freshwater. When the female turtles are ready to get their young, they go out to the beach,
dig a hole and lay about one hundred eggs. Afterwards they cover their eggs and go back to the
sea. The eggs take two month to hatch. When the little turtles hatch, not all of them return to the
sea. Out of that hundred, only about two return to the sea because people know when a turtle is
on the beach. They will see a turtle track in the sky, so people hurry to the beach to see if they
find any turtles. Yes! People may find turtles and take them home for pets. And some take
them home for decoration.
TURTLES
Samuel Bedford
Teacher, Grade 6A, Molineux Primary School
October 1992
* * *
The turtle season lasts from May to June, normally. Men claim that they know when a turtle
comes on land because (a) a star pitches in the night in the area where the turtle is located (about
to lay eggs) or (b) they see a track looking similar to that of a turtle's in the sky late in the
afternoon or evening. Turtles make a track as they move to the shore and normally travel in a
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