Sea Turtle - Chelonioidea
6 of the 7 species of marine turtle are highly endangered.
The only reason for this is us, humans.
Accidental capture in fishing nets (by-catch), coastal development destroying nests and feeding sites, and last but not least, poaching. These are all ignorant human actions that have bought the se turtle populations to diminish.
The ancient Chinese see sea turtles to be extremely fine dining, and some cultures still hunt these animals for food.
The Leatherback is the only sea turtle without a hard shell to protect it and grows to around 2 metres long and 1.5 metres wide when completely matured, being the largest of the sea turtles as well.
When males take to water for the first time, they will never return to land again. The turtles go to deeper waters just above continental shelves when first in the sea, then slowly move closer to shore as they grow older. The female will return to land to lay her 50-200 eggs at night time, she buries them in the sand. She'll do this every two-to-four years once reached maturity. Supposedly they continue this procedure until they're around 80 years old.
The hatchlings gender depends on the temperature of the sand they;re buried in, if it's higher temperatures decrease incubation time which results in more females.
It's common for only one or two hatchlings to survive, many are killed on their journey to the sea by birds, crabs and other predators.
It takes several decades for sea turtles to reach sexual maturity, this is a reason why they're such a fragile population, many are killed before they have the chance to reproduce.
The sea turtles also live for about 100 years, the oldest recorded died at 250 years old.
The only reason for this is us, humans.
Accidental capture in fishing nets (by-catch), coastal development destroying nests and feeding sites, and last but not least, poaching. These are all ignorant human actions that have bought the se turtle populations to diminish.
The ancient Chinese see sea turtles to be extremely fine dining, and some cultures still hunt these animals for food.
The Leatherback is the only sea turtle without a hard shell to protect it and grows to around 2 metres long and 1.5 metres wide when completely matured, being the largest of the sea turtles as well.
When males take to water for the first time, they will never return to land again. The turtles go to deeper waters just above continental shelves when first in the sea, then slowly move closer to shore as they grow older. The female will return to land to lay her 50-200 eggs at night time, she buries them in the sand. She'll do this every two-to-four years once reached maturity. Supposedly they continue this procedure until they're around 80 years old.
The hatchlings gender depends on the temperature of the sand they;re buried in, if it's higher temperatures decrease incubation time which results in more females.
It's common for only one or two hatchlings to survive, many are killed on their journey to the sea by birds, crabs and other predators.
It takes several decades for sea turtles to reach sexual maturity, this is a reason why they're such a fragile population, many are killed before they have the chance to reproduce.
The sea turtles also live for about 100 years, the oldest recorded died at 250 years old.
