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If you think all turtles are so slow moving that they can barely make it from one side of the pond to another in a day, think again! Sea turtles are capable of migrating hundreds or even thousands of miles in a season. Can you swim a thousand miles in a three month span of time? Maybe—if you are a sea turtle!

Sea turtles are extremely strong swimmers, but also require access to the land. In order to continue the species, sea turtles require a safe beach on which the females of the species can create a nest and lay their eggs. And don’t think that any old beach will do– female sea turtles return to nest on the very beach where they were born.

When a baby sea turtle hatches from its egg, it needs to travel from the nest to a safe place in the ocean where it can find food and refuge from predators. Gulf stream currents in the Atlantic and Caribbean seas are good examples of a place which provides floating seaweed which on they can survive. There they will float for several years until they are grown enough to return to near-shore waters. They chill out there until they are adults, and then they migrate to a new feeding ground where they will find a mate and the cycle continues. Sea turtles can live to be about 100 years old.

Unless they are engaged in courtship, sea turtles tend to live more solitary lives. Even when they feed in the same vicinity, turtles seem to keep to themselves, but since they spend so much time submerged under the water, researchers are still a bit confounded by the sea turtle’s social behavior.

Sea turtles inhabit the tropical and subtropical seas across the globe. They do not have teeth, but instead sport a beak-type protrusion which suits their dietary pursuits. Their shell consists of an upper carapace and a lower section called a plastron. Tough scales called scutes cover most of the other exposed areas. Sea turtles hear via their eardrums which are covered by skin—they hear low frequencies best. Their vision underwater is good, but out of water, they are a bit nearsighted. They have a very fine sense of smell. Sea turtles have huge flippers and streamlined bodies which allow them to swim with grace and speed. When they get sleepy, sea turtles are known to sleep at the surface in deep waters, or wedged under rocks when they reside near the shore. They have also been seen sleeping under reef and rock ledges.

Believe it or not, sea turtles used to populate the world’s oceans in numbers too vast to imagine. And they have been around for a long, long time—the earliest fossil dates back to 150 million years ago! But, recently—in the last 100 years—sea turtles have diminished in number drastically. Humans have hunted them for their shells, meat, eggs, and skin. Likewise, since the beaches are becoming more populated with people, and pollution is seeping into their habitat, sea turtles are having a tough time surviving these days. In fact, they are in grave danger of becoming extinct. Don’t let the sea turtle become a mere memory—write to your elected official or get information about groups fighting to save turtles today!