Study on the behavior of the loggerhead turtle Caretta caretta during inter-nesting period. III. Deep diving behavior of the loggerhead turtle near the frontal zone.

Abstract

Loggerhead turtles can maintain a body temperature several degrees warmer than their environ-ment. Stomach temperature data were compiled in order to see how the female loggerhead turtle adapted her body temperature to the different water temperatures near the frontal zone. She passed from the warm water into the cooler water and out again. In the cooler water, the stomach temperature gradually went down. Although this was largely due to thermodynamic transfer of heat from the skin, it was also found that the female loggerhead turtle drinks cold water during a deep dive, thereby cooling body temperature from the inside. Coming out of the cooler water again, she would make continuous and repeated dives in the shallower layer and raise her body temperature once again through kinetic energy consumption.