Leatherback_seaturtle-Hieu_Hoang

=Leatherback Sea Turtle= (Dermochelys coriacea)

Natural Habitat and location
  The leatherback turtle is distributed worldwide in tropical and temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. It is also found in small numbers as far north as British Columbia, Newfoundland, and the British Isles, and as far south as Australia, Cape of Good Hope, and Argentina. Adult females require sandy nesting beaches covered with vegetation and sloped sufficiently so the crawl to dry sand is not too far. The preferred beaches have proximity to deep water and generally rough seas. 

N iche
The leatherback sea turtle has an important role on its habitat. The leatherback sea turtle's diet mostly consists of jellyfish, but it also feeds on sea urchins, squid, crustaceans, tunicates, fish, blue-green algae, and floating seaweed. The leatherback can grow up to 61 inches in length and between 640 to 1300 pounds. The requirements for the sea turtle to live and nest are sandy beaches backed with vegetation and sloped so that the dry sand is not far, preferred beaches have deep water and rough seas. The leatherback sea turtles play a competitive predator-prey relationship with many other organisms, as they are eaten and eat other organisms. The leatherback turtles are prey to natural predators such as raccoons, seabirds, sharks, and large fishes. Also, the leatherback is the predator to mainly jellyfish. Leatherback turtles are believed to reach sexual maturity in 6 to 10 years. The nests usually consist of between 70 to 80 yolked eggs, 2 inches in diameter and take 55-75 days of incubation. The female leatherback nest an average of 5 - 7 times per nesting season and nest in 2-3 year intervals. The turtle is mainly active all day and night as they only return to land to reproduce, and travel in large groups.


 * [[image:http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/images/reptiles/lethback.jpg]] ||
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 * [[image:http://www.eurocbc.org/2067Leatherback_Bame_MWitt030-med.jpg link="http://www.eurocbc.org/2067Leatherback_Bame_MWitt030-med.jpg"]] ||

Reason for Endangerment
Difference between endangered vs. threatened is, endangerment is when a species is in danger of extinction throughout all or a large portion of its range. A species is threatened when the species is most likely to be endangered in the future throughout all or a large portion of its range.The leatherback sea turtle is ranked as: CR or Critically Endangered. An estimated number of 30,000 sea turtles remain today from the 115,000 in 1980. The crash of the population is due to many reasons, but is primarily due to the human exploitation for the eggs and meat, as well as numerous incidents of take in from commercial fisheries in the Pacific Ocean. Other factors leading to the decline of the leatherback population are : nesting habitat destruction for coastal developments, disorientation of hatchings by beach front lighting (as the turtles confuse the lighting with the moonlight reflecting on the water), excessive nest predation by native and non-native predators. Also, the degradation of foraging habitat, and watercraft strikes. === Conservation Efforts === Many organizations have contributed to the leatherback sea turtle conservation. One is the NOAA.
 * [[image:http://www.cccturtle.org/images/LeatherbackHatchling-Evans.jpg caption="Baby Leatherback Seaturtle" link="http://www.cccturtle.org/sea-turtle-information.php?page=leatherback"]] ||

Biblography  "Leatherback Sea Turtles in North Carolina" [|http://www.fws.gov/nc-es/reptile/leather.html]

"Leatherback sea turtle Fact Sheet" [] 