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Rare Sea Turtle Lays Eggs On Pensacola Beach

Visitors to Pensacola Beach were treated to an exciting sight Tuesday – a rare female Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle crawling ashore to nest and lay her eggs. She was the third turtle to nest on Escambia County Beaches this season, with two loggerhead nests recorded earlier this week.

“She dug a hole about 1.5 to 2 feet deep and when she got down in the hole she laid about 50-100 eggs. She used her flippers to cover the eggs with sand so you can’t see them and then she headed back to the water. She may come back up,” said Brenda Sexton, sea turtle volunteer of approximately 10 years. “Some of them come back up two or three times laying eggs and then they are exhausted and they go back home for two or three years. It’s kinda cool.”

Four species of sea turtles visit Escambia County beaches May through October to lay their eggs. Loggerheads are the most common visitor, however leatherback, green and Kemp’s Ridley nests have also been recorded on county beaches.

Typically, female sea turtles wait for nightfall before crawling ashore to dig their nests. Kemp’s Ridley are the only species that nest during the daylight hours. After 60 days, hatchlings wait for nightfall before emerging all at once, using the light of the moon and stars to find their way to the Gulf of Mexico.

Sea turtles of all sizes face many threats. Excessive artificial lights can disorient both nesting and hatchling turtles, leading them away from the Gulf of Mexico and into danger. Furniture and other personal belongings left on the beach overnight can trap and injure turtles. Plastic pollution and other debris can entangle turtles and cause sickness when accidentally eaten.