How Many Sea Turtles Are Left in Our Oceans?
There are seven types of sea turtle swimming about our oceans. They’re found in warm and tropical oceans with an abundance of life. Hardy and long-lived, these robust animals are known to inhabit both the open oceans and densely packed reefs.
But if you were to go swimming with turtles, how many sea turtles are there to encounter?
Over seven species, are we looking at only a small number of animals, or are there lots of these very distinctive creatures. Xplore Our Planet provides all the details you need to know.
How Many Sea Turtles Are Left? Species Breakdown
The populations of sea turtles vary species to species. Some sea turtles are fortunate to have quite prosperous populations, while others struggle with being critically engaged.
So how many of each turtle species remain?
The calculation is not easy to gauge accurately. Male sea turtles do not leave the water during hatching season, which means counting their true numbers is an impossible task. However, since 90% of sea turtles are actually female, we can get a good sense of the population by monitoring nesting female sea turtles.
With that in mind, what’s the nesting population breakdown?
Hawksbill Sea Turtles: 25,000
Green Sea Turtles: 90,000
Loggerhead Turtles: 50,000
Leatherback Turtles: 35,000
Olive Ridley Sea Turtle: 800,000
Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle: 9,000
Flatback Sea Turtle: 21,000
How Many Sea Turtles Are Left in Total?
There are an estimated 1,030,000 nesting female sea turtles living in our oceans. If 90% of all sea turtles are female, the additional 10% of male sea turtles puts the total figure for sea turtles left in the world at around 1,133,000 - one-million, one-hundred and thirty-three thousand.
By far the most numerous are the Olive Ridley sea turtle, with a population of nearly 1 million.
While over a million sea turtles seems like a lot, this number was far higher only a few decades ago. The leatherback turtle, for example, faces extinction within 20 years if numbers continue to decline.
