Adaptations
Behavioural Adaptations:
Functional Adaptations:
- The Hawksbill Sea Turtle, like many other species of sea turtle tuck their bodies into their shell when in or predicting danger.
- Also like many other sea turtles, Hawksbill Turtles arrive on their natal beaches, dig up the sand to lay their eggs and then return to the sea.
- The Hawksbill Turtle has a "beak" in which the upper jaw overhangs the lower jaw, giving it the ability to access crevices and small holes to obtain its predominant food source- sponges.
- The Hawksbill Turtle, like many other turtles have flippers which enable it to push through the water to swim and to dig into the sand on natal beaches to lay eggs.
- Also the Hawksbill Turtle has a protective carapace (made up of four pairs of scutes) which protects their vital organs from predators.
Functional Adaptations:
- The Hawksbill Turtle use their flippers for the digging of holes to lay eggs and also to push them through the water.
- Hawksbill Turtles have skin that is fatal to humans as their predominant diet of sponges contain toxic chemical compounds which are formed in the turtle's tissue. Their skin -if consumed by humans- may cause severe illness and in extreme cases, death.