Reveal the secret hiding place of sea turtles

Immediately after hatching and crawling into the sea, baby turtles disappear for 5 years. During that time, the place where the little creatures with the palm of their hand remained until it swelled out with the disk was still a secret, to this day.

Recent research has found the " temporary " home of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the vast ocean, where they eat jellyfish and other creatures. Not only that, they also discovered that green turtles, considered lifelong vegetarians, actually eat meat when they were young.

Mysteriously, 50 years ago about sea turtle seclusion

As soon as it hatches and runs into the water, tiny animals (only 5 cm long) immediately disappear. And no one saw them many years later, until 3-5 years later, they suddenly appeared near the shore.

"This is really a hardship for biologists, because many green turtles have hatched and gone into the sea, but we don't know where they are," said team member Karen Bjorndal, director. Archie Carr, a marine turtle research center at the University of Florida, said.

A green turtle swims on the seabed.(Photo: LiveScience)

Scientists collected samples from the shells of 44 green turtles in an area near Great Inagua in the Bahamas. They analyzed the heavy and light isotopes of carbon and nitrogen from both the oldest and the youngest samples. These isotopes are like fingerprints, indicating the animal's diet (eating meat or eating grass) and where they lived.

The results show that green turtles have " hidden " in the deep ocean, prey as carnivores, before coming to shore and becoming vegetarians for the rest of their lives (eating only seagrass).

The discovery has opened up new directions for the conservation of green turtles, as the researchers explain: "You can't protect a species without knowing where it is."

T. An