Chad Gillis | Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News
They’re Leviathans of the sea, truly massive creatures that cross oceans each year in order to feed and reproduce.
Sea turtles flock to Florida beaches each summer to dig giant holes, fill them with hundreds of eggs, cover the eggs and then return to the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf.
Compared to their land cousins, sea turtles are enormous, some (like the leatherback) reaching the size of a small car.
They first emerged around 110 million years ago, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, or FWC, the state agency charged with protected sea turtles and other wildlife.
State nest monitoring increases
Locally, dozens of volunteers and scientists will spend most summer mornings walking local beaches and looking for turtle tracks, which are several feet wide and go from the Gulf, up the beach and then back down to the water.
The state reported more than 133,414 nests on beaches that are monitored in Florida, and that number broke the previous 2016 record by about 8,000 nests, according to Florida Wildlife Research Institute records and local sea turtle experts.
Loggerheads are the most common sea turtle species found on Southwest Florida beaches, and they nest here on places like Sanibel Island, Fort Myers Beach, Bonita Beach, in Naples and on Marco Island.
Read more about the sea turtles on naplesnews.com.
Are you looking for a home in the Naples, Florida area? Contact David at David@DavidFlorida.com or 239-285-1086.
