hatchling

noun hatch·ling \ ˈhach-liŋ \

|Updated on: 20 Jul 2018

Definition of hatchling

: a recently hatched animal

See hatchling defined for English-language learners

Recent Examples of hatchling from the Web

Federal wildlife officials seized more than 3,400 diamondback terrapin hatchlings from Sommers' Levittown home in October and helped return them to their natural habitats in the coastal marshes of New Jersey, the department said.

— CBS News, "Feds indict man for allegedly trafficking thousands of turtles," 10 July 2018
Certain beach mats are even installed with specific configurations to help minimize any interference in the return of sea turtle hatchlings to the sea.

— sylvia longmire, OrlandoSentinel.com, "Final straw for wheelchair users: BYOS or you’re out of luck," 10 July 2018
Scratching noises came from the nest box as the adult female within tore apart the vole into pieces her hatchlings could swallow.

— ned rozell, Anchorage Daily News, "During long summer days in Alaska, Boreal owls perform by daylight," 30 June 2018
Donna Bickert, of north Dallas, took this video of sea turtle hatchlings leaving their nest July 28, while on vacation at Disney's Vero Beach Resort.

— tyler treadway, USA TODAY, "Almost all sea turtles born in Florida are female, and this researcher thinks she knows why," 13 Mar. 2018
Sightings Duck box surprise: Near creeks, ponds and marshes, wood duck boxes are producing this year’s crop of hatchlings.

— tom stienstra, SFChronicle.com, "First breath, first steps in little-seen wildlife world," 1 July 2018
From late July through September, a big night out on Bald Head usually means heading over to the beach after dark with the BHI Conservancy to watch hatchlings wiggle out and make their way down to the ocean.

— alison humes, WSJ, "Summer Getaways That You Don’t Need To Sweat Over," 28 June 2018
Under natural conditions, roughly 10% of the hatchlings will be eaten by predators on the beach.

— meghan overdeep, Southern Living, "World’s Largest Turtle Returns to North Carolina to Nest," 24 May 2018
Their mission will be to rescue as many of the surviving dinosaurs as possible — including Blue, the extraordinarily intelligent and empathetic velociraptor whom Owen trained as a hatchling — and relocate them to another island sanctuary.

— justin chang, latimes.com, "'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' is an improvement, which doesn't make it necessary," 6 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hatchling.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.