Paddleboarders Swoon Over Adorable Tiny Sea Turtle Swimming Out to Sea in Florida
Paddleboarders in Naples, Florida were in for quite a treat when they noticed they had another swimmer right next to them...an adorable tiny sea turtle swimming out to the sea! ABC News shared a video of the encounter on Tuesday, July 23rd, and it'll make you smile.
The paddleboarders spotted the baby sea turtle and recorded it for about a minute. Watch when they pan out to show just how tiny he really is compared to the huge ocean he's swimming out to explore...it really puts things into perspective. The amount of effort it takes for the little guy to paddle is pretty impressive, too. I got tired just watching him!
This is a bucket list item for me! I would be so excited to see a little sea turtle swimming for the first time, or even just to see them hatching and making their way to the water! I wasn't the only one. Commenters on ABC News' video had a lot to say about the adorable sea turtle. @Vanessa asked, "Wait why do I wanna cry?! Someone protect him!" and @Ruvio added, "The ocean is so big for him!" @Queen of Hearts pointed out what I thought, too, "Baby looks like it’s swimming in place."
Facts About Baby Sea Turtles
From the moment they are born, these little guys know what their mission is, and that means making their way to the shore and out to sea. The amount of effort it takes is extraordinary! Baby sea turtles are born with odds already stacked against them. Mothers lay anywhere from 50 to 200 eggs which incubate under the sand for 60-80 days before they hatch. According to Wildlife Informer, it can take the turtles up to a week to dig themselves out of the sand that covers the nest! Once they finally reach the surface, the tiny turtles venture from the nest down towards the shoreline and into the ocean. It's estimated that only 1 in 1,000 of these guys (actually called hatchlings) even make it all the way out to sea.
Wildlife Informer also shared this interesting fact about the size of sea turtles, "They start out being a mere two inches long. It takes between 7 and 30 years for them to fully grow and mature depending on the species. Leatherback babies are only around 2-3 inches in length at birth but can grow to over 2,000 pounds as adults." Their size is incredible!
Once they reach the size of a dinner plate, the growing turtles will return to coastal areas where they will forage (they eat seaweed, jellyfish, crustaceans, and fish eggs) and continue to mature. When they are old enough to reproduce, they will return to the same beach that they were born on to mate. Talk about the circle of life!
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