SEA TURTLE IN THE WAVES 2′ x 3′ SINGLE SIDED

Every year a cycle of life occurs on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore (North Carolina) when female sea turtles return to the beaches where they were hatched to deposit eggs into a nest dug into the sand which will hatch to start the next generation of sea turtles. The sea turtle emerges from the ocean to make her way ponderously up the beach where, after crawling to a place she deems appropriate, she digs a hole with her back flippers to lay her eggs. Once she covers the nest, this majestic reptile slowly makes her way back to the ocean using light cues. The nesting process can take between 1-3 hours to complete. A couple of months later, the nest seems to boil over as tiny turtles struggle out of their shells, out of their nest, and, out across a beach full of hazards by the light of the moon to their new home – the ocean.

Sea turtles, some of the largest living reptiles, are long-lived, cold-blooded, air breathing, migratory, and spend almost their entire lives in the sea. They range in size from the smallest species weighing 75-100 pounds to the largest species weighing almost 2,000 pounds.