Loggerhead turtles take 45 years to grow up (BBC)

By Victoria Gill
Science reporter, BBC Nature

Loggerhead turtles take almost half a century to reach maturity, say scientists.

A female turtle, the researchers report in the journal Functional Ecology, will not start to lay eggs until she is 45.

This estimate, based on examination of several decades of data on the turtles' growth, has implications for conservation efforts.

It reveals how long it takes for turtles hatched at a protected nesting site to return to that site to breed.

Prof Graeme Hays from the University of Swansea, one of the authors of the study, explained how reaching maturity so slowly meant that the turtle population was "less resilient" than previously thought.
***
more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/15625291

they are strong as an ox if you compare them to the size of an ox. They make love doggy style, they also take advantage of the situation in getting that love thing going.
One day I'm out in the garden working on pulling weeds etc and I kept hearing leaves rustling so I go toward where the noise was coming from and there they were. He had her pinned in the 2 inch x 4 inch welded wire fence we had around our garden. She had her head sticking through the fence as if she was trying to get away while he was pouring the meat to her. I started to take a picture of this but I was afraid that maybe one of them was underage and I'd get arrested for porn when I took the film in for developing so I didn't. :-)
I shit you not