Have you ever seen a sea turtle dance? A Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle nesting at North Carolina’s Cape Hatteras National Seashore displayed its dance moves last month as it buried its eggs with sand. It’s a seriously threatened turtle with a really distinct approach of nest building, making this a really unusual sight to see.
In fact, Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles are the smallest and most threatened of all the sea turtle types. They nest during the day, unlike other sea turtle types. They do not frequently nest at Cape Hatteras, and a Facebook post by the National Seashore recommends this is the very first Kemp’s Ridley nest ever recorded at this specific location.
But why was it dancing?
“Here’s where it gets shell-arious,” Cape Hatteras National Seaside wrote in its post. “Kemp’s ridleys have a special method of covering their eggs. While most sea turtles merely press sand over their nests with their flippers, Kemp’s ridleys take it to the next level. They not just use their flippers but also carry out a little side-to-side shuffle on top of the nest. We call it the ‘Kemp’s ridley dance’! Looks like these turtles understand how to put their finest flipper forward!”
View the sea turtle shuffle here:
This critically endangered types faces dangers such as bottom trawling and other fishing practices that inadvertently catch, injure, or eliminate Kemp’s Ridley turtles.
Did you know that Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles did this little nesting dance?
Have you ever seen a sea turtle dance? An unusual Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle showed off its distinct dance moves. Here’s why.