Turtles are ocean-living creatures but they have to breathe air. They need to surface at least every 45 minutes but when they are resting they can hold their breath for as long as seven hours! Their large front flippers are designed to propel their massive weight through the water and they look quite graceful when they are in the sea. Once on land, however, the same flippers are not so great at moving that enormous body across the sand and their progress, as seen in this video, is painstakingly slow. Can you imagine taking a nap on the beach and waking up to find this creature next to you? No wonder it drew such a crowd. We are not told exactly where this footage was taken but it is clearly a holiday destination as swimming costume-clad tourists gather to watch this magnificent animal enter the waves. There are several different types of sea turtles including the leatherback, loggerhead, and flatback. They are found in all the world’s oceans apart from the edges of the Arctic and Antarctic. The largest turtle ever recorded is a leatherback that was washed ashore on a beach in Wales, UK in 1988 having become tangled in fishing nets. It was over nine feet in length and weighed over 2,019 pounds. Experts estimated that it was around 100 years old and its body is on display in a museum.   Sea turtles will usually only come onto the shore to nest and lay eggs. This is the most likely reason for the leatherback in this video to have come ashore. However, they will sometimes bask on beaches to raise their body temperature. This is a type of thermoregulation (control of body temperature) used by ectothermic animals – often called cold-blooded because they rely on the environment to control their body temperature. Turtles are more likely to bask on beaches if the water temperature is cold, it helps their digestion and boosts their immunity. Most of the humans in this footage are following the advice on what to do if you spot a turtle on a shore. They are standing well back and keeping a respectful distance. Everyone is so relieved when this beauty eventually reaches the crashing waves and heads out into the ocean.

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