There are seven species of sea turtles. Five of the seven species are endangered or critically endangered. According to Conservation International, sea turtles are categorized in two groups. Dermochelyidae has one species, the leatherback sea turtle. The Cheloniidae family comprises the remaining six species. (See Resources, Conservation International) Leatherback, Hawksbill and Kemp’s Ridley are critically endangered.
The seven species of sea turtles include flatbacks, which live on the continental shelf of Australia, Indonesia or the coast of Papua New Guinea. Colorful, flatbacks are yellow with grey or green, and can weigh up to 198 pounds.
The hawksbill lives in the waters off Australia, Indonesia or along the coast of Papua New Guinea. It can breed on the southern region of the Great Barrier Reef. With its beak-like mouth, the hawksbill is indigenous to waters all over the world, including, the Gulf of Mexico, Bahia, Hawaii, the Japanese archipelago, New Zealand, and northwest coastal Australia. Adults can be three feet long and weigh 350 pounds.
Greens are herbivores. They live on islands in the Caribbean, southern Atlantic, and along the eastern coast of the United States.
The biggest nesting grounds for the loggerhead turtle is South Florida and Masirah Island in Oman.
According to Green Packs, the leatherback turtle is the largest of the sea turtles. Only crocodiles are larger reptiles. The largest known leatherback sea turtle weighed nearly 2000 pounds.
On the other end of the spectrum is Kemp’s Ridley, the smallest sea turtle. Adults are about three feet long and weigh in at only 100 pounds or so. (See Resources, Green Packs)
Accounts vary, but sea turtles have lived on the planet for 110-to-120 millions years. Leatherbacks range the widest. They are found in every tropical and subtropical ocean, from Alaska, Norway to Cape Cod and New Zealand. These marine testaments to survival endured ice ages, out-lived the dinosaurs and every imaginable planetary catastrophe.
According to Green Packs, sea turtles are mainly threatened by hunting for their meat, fat and shells. Commercial fishing techniques cause sea turtle to get trapped on fishing hooks or to be crushed by dredges. (See Resources, Green Packs) Defenders of Wildlife warns that global warming is a special threat to sea turtles. The sex of a turtle depends upon the temperature at which the egg incubates. If global temperatures continue to rise, only females may be born from eggs incubated in sand above 88.6 degrees Fahrenheit. (See Resources, Defenders)
Coastal storms, such as hurricanes and cyclones intensify as global climate changes increase temperatures. Sea levels rise with melting Arctic glaciers. Both scenarios threaten turtle nesting beaches. Defenders of Wildlife adds that coastal development threatens breeding habitat.
Every person can participate in the urgent efforts to save all species of sea turtles. Defenders of Wildlife and Conservation International offer ways to take actions that will protect these creatures from extinction. Defenders of Wildlife partners with conservation groups to protect sea turtle breeding beaches. Defenders works in communities to educate homeowners and hotel staff to do their part by keeping night lights dim to protect turtles during nesting. and to educate coastal home and hotel owners to keep their lights dim so as to not interrupt turtle nesting seasons. Defenders of Wildlife also works to encourage fisheries to use fishing methods that do not endanger sea turtles.
One can always take action through Defenders of Wildlife and other wildlife preservation orgainzations. Put pressure on all the world governments to ban hunting sea turtles and all sea turtles products. Climate change is a factor in the preservation of sea turtles and the rest of life on Earth. Take action at home and on your elected servants to make immdeiate changes to reduce carbon emissions. It is not easy. It takes commitment. But, if there are no sea turtles, what species is next? If you do not know the answer to that question, look at the resources provided. There are lists of endangered and threatened species, imperiled by waste and greed.
Also, find out how Australian researchers are tracking and studying turtles in order to help them.