The Leatherback

Dermochelys coriacea

SCIENTIFIC DESIGNATION:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Family: Dermochelyidae
Genus: Dermochelys
Species: coriacea

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:
As the Kemp's ridley is small, the leatherback is...humongous. Not only does this elegant species differ in size, but it is the only sea turtle to reside in a different family than the others--Dermochelyidae instead of Chelonidae. The reason for this is that the leatherback has a soft shell--a leathery shell, some might say, hence the common name. The shell is made up of a layer of thin but tough rubbery skin running over thousands of small bone plates. The carapace (upper shell) is generally black with white spots, and is marked by seven narrow ridges running from head to tail. The plastron, or lower shell, is whitish gray to black and has five ridges instead of the upper shell's seven. Because of this and a streamlined shape, the leatherback is well able to swim the thousands of miles it does against fast currents.

SIZE AND NESTING:
If you want to know the truth I'll tell you the truth. Adult leatherbacks are known to reach 590 kg (or 1,300 lbs.) and commonly reach 2.4 m (8 ft.) in length. But the largest leatherback every recorded tipped the scale at a whopping 961 kg, which is 2,019 lbs!!! And this turtle was 3 m (10 ft.) long!!! Now that is something I would have liked to have seen!
The leatherback nests from March through July, usually on the east coast of Florida, all throughout the Caribbean, the Pacific Coast of Central America, and the north coast of South America. The female nests every 2 or 3 years and lays 6-9 clutches per season. Each clutch contains 80 fertilized eggs and will incubate for approximately 65 days.

FEEDING:
Would you believe that this gargantuan turtle feeds only on jellyfish? It's true, even though jellyfish are almost entirely made of water. They have delicate jaws, which would be damaged by the shelled crustaceans the tiny Kemp's ridley favors.

HABITAT:
According to the Caribbean Conservation Corporation:
"The leatherback grows the largest, dives the deepest, and travels the farthest of all sea turtles."
This is indeed true, because they have been found as far south as the tip of Africa, and as far north as Alaska, in the open ocean. Also, the Dermochelys coriacea is quite tolerant of cold water, known to be active at -40 degrees Fahrenheit. Remember, we're talking about a reptile here, a cold-blooded animal.

MAJOR THREATS:
Erosion to nesting beaches, artificial lighting, entanglement in buoy anchor lines, longlines, and other cables and ropes, and mistaking floating plastic bags for jellyfish. In other words, there's a lot threatening these majestic turtles. But by far the worst threat is theft (by humans!) of leatherback eggs. Poachers (maybe that is where they get the expression "poached eggs", from the poachers who steal turtle eggs) illegally "harvest" them, and then the eggs are used for a variety of purposes. In some places they are mixed with jalapeno sauce and drunk by males to improve their sex life.

It makes a person wonder, this living being is so wonderful, why are we killing it?
That's what I'm asking you.
WHY DO HUMAN BEINGS KILL TURTLE BEINGS??????

________________