(Caretta caretta)
Listed as Endangered under the EPBC Act 1999 (Commonwealth) and BC Act 2016 (WA); and as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
Loggerhead turtles are the second most common species at Ningaloo, and there are nesting rookeries of significance in Cape Range National Park, the Muiron Islands, Gnarraloo, and Janes Bay. There is an estimated 448 to 1249 female loggerhead turtles in the breeding population that nest within the North West Cape and Cape Range rookeries. They can travel vast distances from their nesting beaches to their foraging areas and some loggerheads tagged in WA have been recaptured or resighted in the NT, Queensland, and Indonesia.
Loggerhead turtles have a carnivorous diet, feeding mostly on shellfish, crabs, sea urchins and jellyfish. They lay approximately 125 eggs per clutch. Loggerhead hatchlings are dark in colour with 3 distinct ridges running down their carapace.
There are 2 genetically distinct stocks of loggerheads nesting in Australia, one in WA. So this means all the loggerheads using rookeries at Ningaloo and Shark Bay belong to the same stock.
Physical characteristics include a large, solid jaw capable of crushing, 5 pairs of large costal scales on each side of their carapace (shell). Their carapace is brown to red-brown in colour.