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Quiz about At Loggerheads Life of a Sea Turtle

At Loggerheads: Life of a Sea Turtle Quiz

You are a Mediterranean loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) born on the island of Zakynthos in the Ionian Sea. How will your life be? How will you survive and procreate? Here are 10 questions following your life as a loggerhead.

A multiple-choice quiz by pericles34. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
pericles34

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
316,355

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Average

Avg Score
7 / 10

Plays
1120

Awards
Top 20% Quiz

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. As a hatchling, you have just fought your way through a ping-pong ball sized egg. You notice you and the majority of your siblings from the clutch are males. Why did this happen? Hint

Males have a lower rate of survival, so more males than females are born

Temperatures in the nest during the incubation period determine sex of the hatchlings.

Male loggerheads are born earlier than females.

Sea turtles lay eggs in two clutches: one for males, one for females.

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Question 2 of 10

2. Unfortunately, you and your newly born sea turtle hatchling siblings are up to 18 inches (45cm) deep in the sand at birth. How will you get out of this nest? Hint

Beech martens will dig up the nest eventually.

You wait for mom to return and dig you out.

You and your siblings work as a team to dig your way out.

At high tide the sea will fill the nest with water and carry you out to sea.

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Question 3 of 10

3. You've now reached the beach. You look for the evening's brightest horizon. That should be the sea. What could send you in the wrong direction? Hint

lights from hotels and houses along the beach

the midnight sun

a full moon

Katelios Beach

4. As you fight your way toward the sea, you and the other hatchlings must watch out for predators such as martens and gulls. But, what man-made obstacles might also hinder your progress toward the sea? Hint

soda bottles and other rubbish

sandcastles

all of these

sunbeds

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Question 5 of 10

5. As a hatchling, you have avoided the pitfalls of the beach and made it to the sea. The next three to seven years are termed by scientists as the "lost years." Where are you, as a young loggerhead turtle, likely to be found during these years? Hint

partying in Cancun

near the shoreline

floating along ocean currents eating small animal and plant matter

heading back and forth between coral reefs and the shore

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Question 6 of 10

6. You have now survived the loggerhead sea turtles' lost years. You are the size of a rugby ball. What animals are your two remaining threats? Hint

sharks and man

man and seals

sharks and jets

sharks and seals

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Question 7 of 10

7. Adult loggerhead turtles usually forage for food traveling between feeding and mating grounds throughout the year. What do adult loggerheads eat in their feeding grounds? Hint

all of these

algae

crabs and clams

sponges and jellyfish

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Question 8 of 10

8. As an adult male loggerhead, how many times a year will you usually leave the water and return to the beach? Hint

only during hurricanes

twice, only during mating season

zero

once a week during mating season

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Question 9 of 10

9. It's mating season. As a male loggerhead turtle you enter breeding grounds to mate with females. After you have mated with a female, where does she go to lay her clutch (group of eggs)? Hint

a cave in the sea

rocky outcrops that are protected from wind

Cleveland

a sandy beach

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Question 10 of 10

10. What are the steps in the process of the female loggerhead turtle in nesting? Hint

none, she just lays her eggs

collecting twigs, building the nest, laying the eggs, hiding the nest

body pit, digging the egg chamber, laying the eggs, covering the egg chamber, camouflaging the nest

carefully digging a hole, laying the eggs, nudging a rock over the nest

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. As a hatchling, you have just fought your way through a ping-pong ball sized egg. You notice you and the majority of your siblings from the clutch are males. Why did this happen?

Answer: Temperatures in the nest during the incubation period determine sex of the hatchlings.

The Mediterranean loggerhead, like many sea turtles and some other reptiles, are born with Temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD). In the loggerhead the temperature in the second third of incubation determines the sex of the eggs. Between 28 and 30 Celsius the hatchlings will be close to 50/50 male/female. Above 30 they will be majority female; below 28, the hatchlings will be majority male.

2. Unfortunately, you and your newly born sea turtle hatchling siblings are up to 18 inches (45cm) deep in the sand at birth. How will you get out of this nest?

Answer: You and your siblings work as a team to dig your way out.

You and your siblings must work in unison clawing your way toward the top of the sand. Once you are near the top, you wait for nightfall and then dig the last bit to the beach.

3. You've now reached the beach. You look for the evening's brightest horizon. That should be the sea. What could send you in the wrong direction?

Answer: lights from hotels and houses along the beach

Hatchlings have an inborn sense to head to the brightest horizon. However, many times they make the sea despite the lights from hotels on the beach; so, scientists believe hatchlings have multiple ways of sensing the sea.

Answer: all of these

Many turtle hatchlings will run into issues upon the beach on their way to the sea. Some of these are part of the circle of life. Yet, being trapped in the moats of sandcastles and stuck behind the legs of sunbeds are things humans can help ameliorate. Remember to knock down your sandcastles and stack up your sunbeds.

Answer: floating along ocean currents eating small animal and plant matter

While no major study has been conducted of these lost years, biologists hypothesize - based on anecdotal evidence - that the young sea turtles are staying atop the waters eating until they are large enough to face larger predators.

6. You have now survived the loggerhead sea turtles' lost years. You are the size of a rugby ball. What animals are your two remaining threats?

Answer: sharks and man

Indeed, a turtle this large cannot be swallowed by any other sea predator than the shark. Your carapace (shell) has hardened and limit the ability of other animals to get through it. Man, of course, is still a threat with his boats and the degradation of feeding grounds.

7. Adult loggerhead turtles usually forage for food traveling between feeding and mating grounds throughout the year. What do adult loggerheads eat in their feeding grounds?

Answer: all of these

Loggerheads are on a see-food diet. If they see food, they eat it. While they are mainly carnivorous, loggerheads commonly eat algae and other sea plants as well. Their powerful jaws are able to break open shells of crabs and clams. There is anecdotal evidence from New England lobstermen of loggerheads eating through lobster cages to get to the animal trapped within.

8. As an adult male loggerhead, how many times a year will you usually leave the water and return to the beach?

Answer: zero

Unless a storm or other disaster throws a male against his will onto the beach, male loggerhead turtles never leave the water once they enter it as a hatchling.

9. It's mating season. As a male loggerhead turtle you enter breeding grounds to mate with females. After you have mated with a female, where does she go to lay her clutch (group of eggs)?

Answer: a sandy beach

Unfortunately for the loggerhead (and all other sea turtles), where they lay their eggs is also the same places summer vacationers love - long sandy beaches. Fortunately the sea turtle - adult females and hatchlings - spend their time on the beach at night. So, humans and turtles can co-exist on the beach - humans during the day, turtles at night.

10. What are the steps in the process of the female loggerhead turtle in nesting?

Answer: body pit, digging the egg chamber, laying the eggs, covering the egg chamber, camouflaging the nest

This process usually takes the female turtle 2 hours. About two months later the clutch hatches and the life cycle of the sea turtle begins again.

Source: Author pericles34

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor crisw before going online.
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