Unlike land turtles who have a reputation of being slow-moving, sea turtles are fast, graceful animals in the sea.
Sea turtles are air-breathing reptiles that spend virtually their entire lives at sea.
Once they hatch from eggs laid on beaches, only the females will ever come ashore again, and then only to lay eggs. These ancient reptiles have roamed the Earth's oceans for 150 million years, long enough to have watched the age of dinosaurs come and go. Eight species of sea turtles have managed to survive until modern times, with the ancestral return of the giant land turtle to the sea during the Age of Dinosaurs. Range Sea turtles migrate thousands of miles in the course of a year, moving between nesting and feeding grounds. An Olive Ridley sea turtle tagged in Surinam, South America traveled 1,900 km against the prevailing current in 23 days.