where do loggerhead sea turtles lay their eggs
Loggerhead sea turtle All sea turtles have similar basic nesting behaviors. Females return to lay eggs at intervals of 12â€“17 days during the nesting season, on or near the beach where they hatched.[60][61] They exit the water, climb the beach, and scrape away the surface sand to form a body pit. With their hind limbs, they excavate an egg chamber in which the eggs are deposited. The females then cover the egg chamber and body pit with sand, and finally return to the sea.[66] This process takes one to two hours, and occurs in open sand areas or on top of sand dunes, preferably near dune grasses that the females can use to camouflage the nest.[61] The nesting area must be selected carefully because it affects characteristics such as fitness, emergence ratio, and vulnerability to nest predators.[49] Loggerheads have an average clutch size of 112.4 eggs.[67]