How do genes tell a baby turtle to follow the moon to the ocean after birth?

Question

How do genes tell a baby turtle to follow the moon to the ocean after birth?

In: Biology

Answer 1

They don’t follow the moon. They follow light. It’s just that moonlight reflects off the ocean really well.

There’s a problem here in that now there are other light sources- namely cities. So you’ll get baby turtles following lights across busy streets instead of going down to the ocean.