Have you ever ever seen a sea turtle dance? A Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle nesting at North Carolina’s Cape Hatteras Nationwide Seashore confirmed off its dance strikes final month because it buried its eggs with sand. It’s a critically endangered turtle with a really distinctive technique of nest constructing, making this a very uncommon sight to see.
In reality, Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles are the smallest and most endangered of all the ocean turtle species. They nest in the course of the day, not like different sea turtle species. They don’t typically nest at Cape Hatteras, and a Fb publish by the Nationwide Seashore suggests that is the primary Kemp’s Ridley nest ever recorded at this explicit location.
However why was it dancing?
“Right here’s the place it will get shell-arious,” Cape Hatteras Nationwide Seashore wrote in its publish. “Kemp’s ridleys have a singular approach of protecting their eggs. Whereas most sea turtles merely push sand over their nests with their flippers, Kemp’s ridleys take it to the subsequent degree. They not solely use their flippers but additionally carry out slightly side-to-side shuffle on prime of the nest. We name it the ‘Kemp’s ridley dance’! Seems to be like these turtles know tips on how to put their finest flipper ahead!”
Watch the ocean turtle shuffle right here:
This critically endangered species faces threats similar to backside trawling and different fishing practices that unintentionally seize, injure, or kill Kemp’s Ridley turtles.
Do you know that Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles did this little nesting dance?
