Why do Leatherback Sea Turtle become critically endangered?

Leatherback Sea Turtle

Scientific Name: Dermochelys coriacea

Leatherback turtles are the largest, oldest, and most widely distributed of the world’s marine turtles. The leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), sometimes called the lute turtle or leathery turtle, is the largest of all living turtles and is the fourth-heaviest modern reptile behind three crocodilians. It is the only living species in the genus Dermochelys and family Dermochelyidae. The leatherback sea turtle is a global species, meaning that it can range throughout almost all the oceans of the world. It nests on tropical beaches in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans.

Its appearance alone distinguishes the leatherback from its relatives: shell-less and bluish black in colour, with seven fleshy ridges along its back, and dappled all over with white spots. It is the only extant member of the ancient Dermochelyidae family, which first appeared around 100 million years ago.

They can keep themselves warm in water close to freezing

RANGE DESCRIPTION

There are several populations of leatherback turtles that live in very different parts of the world. Western Pacific leatherbacks nest in areas such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Mariana Islands of the South Pacific and travel across the Pacific Ocean to the west coast of the US and Canada to forage for food.  Eastern Pacific leatherbacks nest in Mexico and Costa Rica and travel to both South America and California. Atlantic leatherbacks nest in places like the southern states of the US, the Caribbean, Trinidad, French Guyana, Mexico, and Western Africa. They travel to various locations throughout the Atlantic as far as the Eastern Coast of Canada even to South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Size/Weight/Age

Adult Leatherback Turtles grow to 1.3 - 2.7 meters (4 - 9 feet) long. Average weight of mature individuals is 660 to 1,100 pounds (300 - 500 kg). The largest leatherback ever recorded was almost 3.1 meters (10 feet) from the tip of its beak to the tip of its tail and weighed in at 2,019 pounds (916 kg). According to the World Wildlife Foundation, the actual lifespan of Leatherback Sea Turtles is still unknown but they have estimated that it could be between 40 - 45 years. Its lifespan estimates exceed up to 100 years.

Diet

Leatherbacks have delicate, scissor-like jaws. Their jaws would be damaged by anything other than a diet of soft-bodied animals and organism. Jellyfish are the main staple of its diet, but it is also feed on sea urchins, squid, crustaceans, tunicates, fish, blue-green algae, and floating seaweed. The large size of leatherback is all the more remarkable given their low energy, low protein diet of soft-bodied creatures. They can eat hundreds of pounds of jellyfish a day.

Breeding

Female leatherbacks sea turtle may lay up to 4 to 5 times per season, and each time depositing 60 to 120 eggs. Leatherbacks appear to nest once every two or three years with an incubation period of approximately 60 days. Leatherback sea turtle hatchlings break out of their egg with a special tooth.

Turtle faces these problems

Leatherbacks are facing extinction mainly due to human impacts on their environment.

Nesting sites are disturbed through tourism or commercial development, and poachers often harvest eggs for food.

Adult turtles are sometimes captured for food and their body parts are used for various commercial products (like traditional medicines).

Turtles can also be killed and injured in collisions with boats. Turtles become trapped in fishing nets and drown.

Population

Leatherbacks have been recorded as far north as Alaska, and as far south as Africa's Cape of Good Hope.

The Pacific may now have as few as 2,300 adult females.

Why is this species important?

The leatherback sea turtle provides natural ecological control of jellyfish population. Jellyfish can feed on fish larvae and reduce population growth of commercially important fish.

How you can help

Send a turtle to rehab! Help the recuperation process for thousands of sick and injured turtles.

Don't buy products which have been made from sea turtle parts. Guitars, ashtrays, jewelry and other products made from sea turtles are sold to tourists around the world.

The largest leatherback sea turtle ever found was an 8.5-foot long weighing 2020 pounds

"SAVE THE TURTLE TO INCREASE THEIR COUNT"

You can also see:- https://lovecreaturetosavenature.blogspot.in/2016/10/why-hawksbill-sea-turtle-matter-facts.html