Loggerhead Turtle – Caretta Caretta

Loggerhead Turtle – Caretta caretta

The Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta) is known for its strong jaws, which it uses to crush hard-shelled mollusks and other marine invertebrates. If you ever encounter one, make sure not to place your fingers between its jaws!

The Loggerhead Turtle has two main nesting sites: one in the U.S. state of Florida and another in the Sultanate of Oman, where around 20,000 turtles come ashore each year to lay their eggs. It is also the only turtle species characterized by a distinctive hump on the upper part of its shell. The Loggerhead Turtle is listed among the species facing the threat of extinction.

In Lebanon, the sandy beaches of the southern coast—specifically from the Al-Bass area north of Tyre to the Mansouri Beach south of Tyre, just before the limestone cliffs of Al-Bayyada–Naqoura—serve as nesting and refuge areas for these turtles. Apart from the Tyre Coast Nature Reserve, which offers some level of protection, and the Mansouri Beach