5 CHAPTER 1 SLOW AND STEADY When night falls a female leatherback sea turtle swims to shore She digs a deep hole in the sand and lays her eggs inside She covers the eggs with sand Then she returns to the water She will swim thousands of miles back out to sea Two months later the turtle is still swimming But her eggs are hatching A female leatherback turtle prepares to leave a beach after burying her eggs
6 The hatchlings are on their own as they crawl out of the hole Right away birds swoop down and grab a few of the hatchlings The ones that remain crawl toward the open water There they will live and grow Scientists do not know exactly where the hatchlings go They call this period the lost years After at least 10 years the turtles will go to live near other adult turtles The journey will be their first migration Leatherbacks travel across the ocean in search of food They swim to feeding areas These are spots of open water with a large supply of jellyfish to eat
7 A leatherback hatchling crawls across the sand to reach the ocean Leatherbacks feed in cold waters But every few years they migrate back to warmer water to mate and lay eggs A female leatherback feeds on jellyfish for three to four years She builds up her energy Then she returns to mating areas and nesting grounds Female leatherbacks make several nests on beaches Then they swim back out to sea
