The shingle-nesting
turtle (Chelonia chinensis) buries its eggs only on
beaches with shingle dunes. In South Australia these shingle
beach ridges occur only in upper Spencer Gulf. [1]
The turtles have several unusual features, among them the fact
that hatchlings stay in the nest for a long time and emerge singly
at widely-spaced intervals.
This brave little fellow is about to make the solitary journey
down the beach.
The nest is buried on the seaward side of the north end of a
saltbush.
It is legal to remove a hatchling, as the turtle (despite few
sightings in the wild) is common and multiplies easily in
captivity.
Other sea creatures may visit and the polka-dot gecko (Gekko
punctatus) often shares the nest with the turtle babies.
Anything else is usually ejected.
1. Hails, J. R. & Gostin, V. A. (1978).
Stranded shingle beach ridges, upper Spencer Gulf, South Australia:
evidence for high wave energy dissipation during the late
Pleistocene. Trans. R. Soc. S. Aust. 102,
169-173.