{"id":19353,"date":"2026-05-27T06:45:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T06:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/19353\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T06:45:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T06:45:19","slug":"rare-sea-turtle-hybrid-hatches-at-queenslands-largest-mainland-turtle-nesting-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/19353\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare sea turtle hybrid hatches at Queensland’s largest mainland turtle nesting site"},"content":{"rendered":"

A group of rare turtle hybrids has been found on a Queensland beach, spotted for the first time in many years.<\/p>\n

The tiny hatchlings, which are a cross between a loggerhead and a green turtle, were found among two clutches of a loggerhead that nested outside Bundaberg.<\/p>\n

The rookery at Mon Repos, about 400 kilometres north of Brisbane, is the largest loggerhead turtle nesting area in Australia and the South Pacific.<\/p>\n

\"To<\/p>\n

Hybrid loggerhead and green turtles have hatched at Mon Repos on Queensland’s coast. (Supplied: Department of the Environment)<\/p>\n

Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service conservation officer Kimberly Finlayson said the interbreeding of sea turtles was an uncommon and surprising find.<\/p>\n

“It probably occurs a little more than we realise because we actually don’t encounter every hatchling that runs down the beach,” she said.<\/p>\n

Dr Finlayson was monitoring a nesting turtle during the last period of turtle hatching at Mon Repos, between January and March, when she found the hybrid hatchlings.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The hybrid turtles were found while researchers were monitoring a returning nesting loggerhead turtle. (Supplied: Cathy Gatley)<\/p>\n

“I was going through scale counts with some volunteers and looking at the scales,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I thought it wasn’t right for this species.<\/p>\n

“And then I realised I was holding something that looked like a green hatchling instead of a loggerhead hatchling.”<\/p>\n

Two were found in the turtle’s second clutch, prompting researchers to look at all the hatchlings from a separate clutch, finding 13 out of the 42 hatchlings were hybrids.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Two of the 15 hybrids found have been sent to Sea World for further research. (Supplied: Department of the Environment)<\/p>\n

Dr Finlayson said each turtle clutch could be fertilised by multiple males, and hybrid turtles often occurred when species’ breeding grounds overlapped.<\/p>\n

“The really interesting thing is that turtle lineages separated over 50 million years ago, and the fact they can still hybridise is pretty unique,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I think the biggest question with our hybrids is whether they are reproductively viable, as most hybrids aren’t.”<\/p>\n

Two of the hybrid hatchlings have been sent to Sea World for further research into their viability, while the rest were released.<\/p>\n

Sea World aquarium supervisor Siobhan Houlihan said the last time she had seen a hybrid was almost 10 years ago.<\/p>\n

“They were only with us for a couple of months, but the last time we had hybrids [for a length of time] would have been about 35 years ago, when we were given a number of these logger greens from Mon Repos,” Ms Houlihan said.<\/p>\n

“Unfortunately, the female passed away from reproductive disease back in 2020.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The turtles will be researched and eventually released. (Supplied: Department of the Environment)<\/p>\n

Ms Houlihan said the new arrivals looked like green turtle hatchlings, making them somewhat easier to spot in the clutch of loggerheads.<\/p>\n

“But as they’ve gotten bigger, now they’re looking more like little loggerhead hatchlings,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We’re going to continue monitoring how they grow and how they develop.”<\/p>\n

Ms Houlihan said Sea World and the Department of Environment would spend a “couple of years” learning more about the hybrid turtles, before releasing them into the wild.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A group of rare turtle hybrids has been found on a Queensland beach, spotted for the first time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,18767,18764,18765,18766,18768,18763,3815],"class_list":["post-19353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-austrlia","tag-green","tag-hatchling","tag-hybrid","tag-loggerhead","tag-mon-repos","tag-turtle","tag-wide-bay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}