Loggerhead Turtles

•    Scientific name - Caretta caretta
•    IUCN status : Vulnerable
•    Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act: Schedule I
•    Characteristics: Loggerheads feature large heads with powerful jaws. Adult turtles have a slightly heart-shaped, reddish-brown carapace(top shell) and pale yellowish plastron(bottom shell). Their necks and flippers are dull brown to reddish-brown above and pale yellow below. Unlike freshwater turtles, they cannot retract heads or flippers.
•    Distribution: The loggerhead sea turtle occurs all over the temperate and tropical regions of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, although the bulk of loggerhead nesting is at the western rims of the Atlantic and Indian oceans. Loggerheads occur worldwide in nine distinct population segments (DPS) under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA), with five listed as endangered and four as threatened. Out of this only two nesting aggregations exceed 10,000 females annually—Peninsular Florida and Oman.
Impact of climate change 
•    Loggerhead turtles face multiple impacts from climate change, including warmer oceans and dwindling marine food supplies.
•    A 17-year study in Cabo Verde, off West Africa—a major nesting site for tens of thousands of female loggerheads—reveals they are nesting earlier, producing fewer eggs less frequently, and shrinking in size.
•    Female loggerheads now breed every four years instead of every two, as ocean food productivity has declined in the Atlantic.
•    Capital breeders: Loggerhead turtles are "capital breeders" that accumulate and store energy from years of foraging in the ocean to fuel reproduction. However, declining food productivity in the marine ecosystem causes smaller body sizes, which result in reduced clutch sizes, lowering overall reproductive output.
•    Scientists view earlier nesting as an adaptive response to warmer temperatures, yet warn of long-term risks due to eroding food supplies.
•    Experts urge conservation to extend beyond nesting beaches to foraging grounds, addressing rising sea levels, beach erosion, and broader climate threats.
 Loggerheads are not known to nest in India, but nests have been recorded in Sri Lanka and the Gulf of Mannar.