Natal Homing - Sea Turtles

Sea Turtles

There are several different kinds of marine animals that demonstrate natal homing. The most commonly known is the sea turtle. Loggerhead sea turtles are thought to show two different types of homing. The first of which comes in the early stages of life. When first heading out to sea, the animals are carried out by tides and currents with little swimming involved. Recent studies now show that the animals demonstrate homing to feeding grounds near their natal birthplace.

Turtles of a specific natal beach show differences in their mitochondrial DNA haplotypes that distinguish them from turtles of other nesting areas. Many turtles from the same beaches show up at the same feeding areas. Once reaching sexual maturity in the Atlantic Oceans, the female Loggerhead makes the long trip back to her natal beach to lay her eggs. The Loggerhead sea turtle in the North Atlantic cover more than 9,000 miles round trip to lay eggs on the North American shore.