Natural History: The Loggerhead Turtle

This week for our herpetology class we went to the South Carolina Aquarium. We saw a lot of reptiles but my favorite by far were the turtles in the Sea Turtle hospital at the aquarium. One of the turtles we encountered was Jammer, a male Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta) that was rescued from the Isle of Palms in April 2011. The Loggerhead turtles natural habitat is the deep blue see. But this boy was so sick and injured he could no longer live in his habitat and washed up on shore. Jammer is a young juvenile but most Logger head turtles can live to about 50 years old. He currently weighs about 94 pounds. Loggerhead turtles can reach up to 250 pounds. Even though Jammer came in extremely emaciated and with a damaged carpace, thanks to the wonderful people at the South Carolina Aquarium, has a estimated released date of Spring 2012!