Question:
Do turtles lay eggs in any other places apart from on land?
- Asked by Foo Swee Lee

Answer:
Most turtles, including the marine and freshwater species lay eggs on land as they need the warmth to incubate the eggs. There is only one known turtle that lays its eggs in soft substrate underwater, i.e. the  northern long-necked turtle, Chelodina rugosa. Nesting occurs during the wet and early dry season and embryonic development is arrested until the floodwaters recede  in the dry season.  Researchers were able to ascertain this by implanting transmitters in the oviducts of females that were deposited together with the eggs.

Chelodina rugosa

This post is part of Turtle Blogathon 2009, where we stayed up for 24-straight-hours to blog about turtles. Posts written during the Turtle Blogathon are filed in the Turtle Blogathon 2009 category.

• Myths and famous local stories on turtles
• Famous turtle quotes
• Do turtles live in groups? How do they communicate among themselves?
• Reproductive aspects
• What is the lifespan of a turtle?