![](\"https:\/\/imgs.mongabay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2023\/10\/24085513\/olive-ridley-768x512.jpg\")
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HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) \u2014 A reptile believed to be struggling in sand at a Southern California beach was simply making history: a sea turtle laying eggs on the U.S. West Coast.<\/p>\n
And three days later, there were more. An olive ridley turtle \u2014 maybe the same one \u2014 laid eggs on Sept. 19, a few miles away near the Huntington Beach Pier in Orange County, authorities said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first-ever recorded natural nesting for any sea turtle species\u201d on the West Coast, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration\u2019s West Coast Fisheries division said on Facebook.<\/a><\/p>\n Olive ridley turtles are the smallest of sea turtles, with adults weighing up to 100 pounds (45.3 kilograms). NOAA said they\u2019re found worldwide but primarily in the tropical waters of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans.<\/p>\n The first nesting spot was near Seal Beach on Sept. 16, followed by the discovery at Huntington Beach. Both sites were subsequently fenced off. Incubation typically lasts 45 to 60 days, NOAA said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re excited about it,\u201d said Trevor McDonald, marine safety chief at the Huntington Beach Fire Department.<\/p>\n Lifeguards patrolling at night saw a turtle digging in the sand and thought \u201cmaybe this turtle is sick. We just don\u2019t see this very often,\u201d McDonald said. \u201cThen they observed the turtle starting to lay eggs.\u201d<\/p>\n Heidi Stephen said her 9-year-old son, Jude, begged her to take him to Huntington Beach to see the nest Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so magical,\u201d Stephen said.<\/p>\n George Zamora said he hopes the eggs can survive any impact from tides, storms and popular beach events.<\/p>\n \u201cLet them do their thing,\u201d Zamora said. \u201cLet them be born.\u201d<\/p>\n By Eugene Garcia and Ed White,\u00a0 Associated Press<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n Banner image: An olive ridley turtle. Image by Panegyrics of Granovetter via Flickr<\/a> (CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP) \u2014 A reptile believed to be struggling in sand at a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[904,3924,12,302,868,3922,3923,14,9,11,250,13,10,1009,2,867],"class_list":["post-1705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-unicorn778","tag-agency","tag-beaches","tag-bermain","tag-california","tag-coast","tag-eggs","tag-laid","tag-online","tag-peluang","tag-saat","tag-sea","tag-slot","tag-terburuk","tag-turtle","tag-unicorn778","tag-west"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webmediamall.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}