Basking Green Sea Turtle, Kona coast, Hawai'i

[sabbath999]

EXIF: D300, 55-200 VR, 1/125s f/14.0 ISO200 200mm

 

[LaFoto]

"Basking" means it's only just enjoying the sun and the warmth? I cannot tell from this photo how large they are, but I guess a man's shoe would be about the size of its outstretched "arm"?

 

[sabbath999]

"Basking" means it's only just enjoying the sun and the warmth? I cannot tell from this photo how large they are, but I guess a man's shoe would be about the size of its outstretched "arm"?

A man's shoe would be about 2/3rds of its arm.

Basking means enjoying the warmth, yes.

Interestingly, the Hawai'ian sea turtle is the only sea turtle in the world that regularly basks.

Originally, wildlife experts thought that the basking behavior started in the last 40 years... since before that the turtles were not known for doing that... however, now people are thinking that the turtles have only started basking successfully since they were named an endangered species... turns out that the ones that were basking where people could get to them were just getting collected and eaten.

They are quite rare and endangered since they only live in Hawai'i.