<P> All sea turtles have similar basic nesting behaviors . Females return to lay eggs at intervals of 12--17 days during the nesting season, on or near the beach where they hatched . They exit the water, climb the beach, and scrape away the surface sand to form a body pit . With their hind limbs, they excavate an egg chamber in which the eggs are deposited . The females then cover the egg chamber and body pit with sand, and finally return to the sea . This process takes one to two hours, and occurs in open sand areas or on top of sand dunes, preferably near dune grasses that the females can use to camouflage the nest . The nesting area must be selected carefully because it affects characteristics such as fitness, emergence ratio, and vulnerability to nest predators . Loggerheads have an average clutch size of 112.4 eggs . </P> <P> Carl Linnaeus gave the loggerhead its first binomial name, Testudo caretta, in 1758 . Thirty - five other names emerged over the following two centuries, with the combination Caretta caretta first introduced in 1902 by Leonhard Stejneger . The English common name "loggerhead" refers to the animal's large head . The loggerhead sea turtle belongs to the family Cheloniidae, which includes all extant sea turtles except the leatherback sea turtle . The subspecific classification of the loggerhead sea turtle is debated, but most authors consider it a single polymorphic species . Molecular genetics has confirmed hybridization of the loggerhead sea turtle with the Kemp's ridley sea turtle, hawksbill sea turtle, and green sea turtles . The extent of natural hybridization is not yet determined; however, second - generation hybrids have been reported, suggesting some hybrids are fertile . </P> <P> Although evidence is lacking, modern sea turtles probably descended from a single common ancestor during the Cretaceous period . Like all other sea turtles except the leatherback, loggerheads are members of the ancient family Cheloniidae, and appeared about 40 million years ago . Of the six species of living Cheloniidae, loggerheads are more closely related to the Kemp's ridley sea turtle, olive ridley sea turtle, and the hawksbill turtle than they are to the flatback turtle and the green turtle . </P> <P> Around three million years ago, during the Pliocene epoch, Central America emerged from the sea, effectively cutting off currents between the Atlantic and Indo - Pacific Oceans . The rerouting of ocean currents led to climatic changes as the Earth entered a glacial cycle . Cold water upwelling around the Cape of Good Hope and reduction in water temperature at Cape Horn formed coldwater barriers to migrating turtles . The result was a complete isolation of the Atlantic and Pacific populations of loggerheads . During the most recent ice age, the beaches of southeastern North America were too cold for sea turtle eggs . As the Earth began to warm, loggerheads moved farther north, colonizing the northern beaches . Because of this, turtles nesting between North Carolina and northern Florida represent a different genetic population from those in southern Florida . </P>

Where did the loggerhead sea turtle originate from
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