How often do male and female turtles come together?
Once turtles migrate back to coastal feeding grounds (coral reefs and sea grass beds) they will spend another 10 to 20 years feeding before they reach sexual maturity. At this stage males and females share the same habitats. When they migrate to their nesting sites, which might be hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away, males and females spend a period of courtship and mating which may last several months. The males then migrate back to the feeding grounds, while the females stay on and complete all the nesting emergences for that season, before they themselves follow to the feeding grounds, where they possibly meet up with the males once again.
