#leatherback turtle

unexplained-events:

The inside of a leatherback turtle’s mouth

TheSeri, or Comcaac, people of the Sonora coast have had a long and important relationship with the leatherback.  Considered to be one of their five creator deities, the capture and release of a leatherback is cause for ceremony and celebrations.  In recent years, however, the nation has noticed the drastic decline of the leatherback population and decided to take action.  The new conservation movement, called Grupo Tortuguero Comaac, consists of both elders and youths and uses both modern technology and tradition knowledge to monitor turtle populations and research their foraging habits.  Five person teams consisting of an elder, two younger team members, and two trainees make monitoring expeditions into the Canal de Infiernillo, the center of Seri territory and a site of extreme importance for migrating juvenile turtles.  This has proven an effective means of both monitoring local turtle populations and passing traditional knowledge on to the younger generations.

Theleatherback turtle has no teeth.  Instead, its throat is lined with backwards-pointing spines designed to snag prey and prevent it from escaping once the turtle bites down.

During the breeding season, a female leatherback turtle will return to a sandy beach in the same region where she was born.  At night, when the chances of predation are lowest, she will haul herself up onto the sand, dig a pit, and lay her eggs.  She may lay up to nine clutches of over one hundred eggs, with nine days passing in between the laying of each clutch.  

Nesting season is the only time adult leatherbacks will be found on the land, and the animals will consist only of females.  Once a male leatherback has entered the sea, he will never leave it.

So many facts to say about Leatherback Turtles, so little space!

Here is my completed “Amazing, Beautiful Creatures” project as an A2 wall chart!

There may be as many as nine million different species of animal on Earth, and yet many of the most interesting and beautiful creatures get overlooked in favour of those more familiar too us. This is my attempt to introduce some of the less well known ones, although there were many more that I would have liked to have included. I hope that most people will learn a fact or two!

Sadly, many of the creatures I’ve covered, such as the Dugong, Gharial,and the Leatherback Turtle are all threatened with extinction. Hopefully by learning more about these creatures we can help prevent this from happening.

Hope you enjoy, I have learnt a lot making it.

Super high resolution version.