Sea Turtles Use Their Flippers Like Clunky, Adorable Arms To Obtain Food, Study Finds

Scientists observed turtles using flippers for digging, rolling stuff and swiping at prey.

Researchers have made a fascinating and honestly pretty cute finding about sea turtles: Some are using their flippers not just for swimming, but also to help forage for food or capture prey, like big awkward arms.

“Sea turtles’ limbs have evolved mostly for locomotion, not for manipulating prey,” lead study author Jessica Fujii, a researcher with the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, said in a Wednesday press release. “But that they’re doing it anyway suggests that, even if it’s not the most efficient or effective way, it’s better than not using them at all.”

Through directly observing sea turtles and also watching crowdsourced videos of the aquatic reptiles, scientists saw them using their flippers for things like digging, pushing themselves off of objects, and, in the case of one loggerhead turtle, rolling a scallop across the ocean floor.

One photo of a green turtle swiping at a jellyfish even looks as if the turtle is “karate chopping” the creature, The Telegraph noted.

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A green turtle swiping the stinging jellyfish (Cyanea barkeri) in the water column at Hook Island, Queensland, Australia, taken June 2017.
Copyright Fujii et al shared under Creative Commons CC BY

In the study, researchers wrote that it’s “unlikely” any of these behaviors are crucial for the turtles to obtain food, but that “they may aid feeding efficiency and expand foraging or habitat niches.”

So besides really endearing us to sea turtles, why is this finding interesting? For one thing, sea turtles are solitary animals that never even meet their parents, so they aren’t learning this behavior from other turtles, the way some animals learn skills from one another.

“They’re never trained to forage by their mom,” Monterey Bay Aquarium science director Kyle Van Houtan said in the release. “It’s amazing that they’re figuring out how to do this without any apprenticing, and with flippers that aren’t well adapted for these tasks.”

Researchers now wonder whether using their flippers this way is something that individual turtles figure out through trial and error, or if it’s an innate behavior that they inherit.

“Maybe an ancestral turtle evolved this trait and they carried over to the marine environment,” Fujii told Gizmodo.

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Before You Go

Radical Sea Turtles
(01 of09)
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All images creative commons non commercial. www.ashmolephotography.com (credit:Ben Ashmole/500px)
(02 of09)
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Green sea turtle checking out what is going on (credit:Alessandro Cere/500px)
(03 of09)
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Stealth approach, controlled breathing and choosing the right moment! (credit:Alessandro Cere/500px)
(04 of09)
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Photo by: A. ShamandourThe green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle, or Pacific green turtle, is a large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus Chelonia. Its range extends throughout tropical and subtropical seas around the world, with two distinct populations in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.The common name comes from the usually green fat found beneath its carapace.This sea turtle's dorsoventrally flattened body is covered by a large, teardrop-shaped carapace; it has a pair of large, paddle-like flippers. It is usually lightly colored, although in the eastern Pacific populations parts of the carapace can be almost black. Unlike other members of its family, such as the hawksbill sea turtle, C. mydas is mostly herbivorous. The adults usually inhabit shallow lagoons, feeding mostly on various species of seagrasses.[6]Like other sea turtles, green sea turtles migrate long distances between feeding grounds and hatching beaches. Many islands worldwide are known as Turtle Island due to green sea turtles nesting on their beaches. Females crawl out on beaches, dig nests and lay eggs during the night. Later, hatchlings emerge and scramble into the water. Those that reach maturity may live to eighty years in the wild.C. mydas is listed as endangered by the IUCN and CITES and is protected from exploitation in most countries. It is illegal to collect, harm or kill them. In addition, many countries have laws and ordinances to protect nesting areas. However, turtles are still in danger due to human activity. In some countries, turtles and their eggs are hunted for food. Pollution indirectly harms turtles at both population and individual scales. Many turtles die caught in fishing nets. Also, real estate development often causes habitat loss by eliminating nesting beaches. (credit:A. Shamandour/500px)
(05 of09)
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All images creative commons non commercial. www.ashmolephotography.com (credit:Ben Ashmole/500px)
(06 of09)
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Tortue de mer - Barrière de corail - Australie - 2013 (credit:Mathieu Poirier/500px)
(07 of09)
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Ocean turtle and shark in Vienna "Haus des Meeres" (credit:Richard Aufreiter/500px)
(08 of09)
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Young sea turtle at the turtle farm. (credit:Jared Krueger/500px)
(09 of09)
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This turtle kept swimming next to us for over 15 min. (credit:Brigitte Aufreiter/500px)