How does a sea turtle nest?
The nesting process consists of several stages. The female turtle emerges from the sea at night and ascends the beach, searching for a suitable nesting site (somewhere dark and quiet). Once at the chosen nesting site, she begins to dig a body pit by using all four flippers. She removes the dry surface sand beneath her, which will later be used to cover the egg chamber. Once she has created a body pit, she begins to dig an egg chamber using her rear flippers, alternating between the right and left flipper to scoops out the damp sand. When she can reach no deeper, she pauses and begins contractions, her rear flippers rising off the sand. Soon she begins laying eggs. Following each contraction, the female turtle will drop between one and four eggs in quick succession. The eggs will almost fill the chamber. Once her clutch is complete, she closes the nest using her rear flippers in a similar way to digging her egg chamber, just in reverse. She places sand on top of the chamber, until the e
