The Science Behind How Turtles Return Home to Lay Their Eggs

Scientists estimate that only one out of every 1000 baby turtles in the wild survives to see adulthood, but the select females that do exhibit an incredible bit of animal behavior by returning to the beach where they were born to lay their own eggs. Scientists can’t quite explain how the reptiles navigate back to their birth sites, but they have a few theories. In the video above, Joe Hanson of PBS's It's Okay to Be Smart uses the (adorable) Kemp's ridley sea turtle to outline some possibilities, and explain how the animals might use their senses (and Earth's Magnetic North Pole) to make their way home.

[h/t It's OK To Be Smart]

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