The world's largest nesting area for Leatherback Turtles (Demochelys coriacea) has recently been identified to be in Gabon, West Africa. Researchers from the University of Exeter in collaboration with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) have located between 16,000 and 41,000 nesting females on the 372-mile coastline.
During the 1980s and 90s, the Leatherback Turtles population dropped as much as 90 percent. Since Gabon began creating several protected National Parks in 2002, 79 percent of their nests are now located in protected areas, giving the turtles the safety they need to lay their eggs. The protection continues in allowing the eggs the chance to incubate and hatch.
Leatherback Sea Turtle Eggs
The only sea turtles who do not simply drop their eggs into nests dug in the sand, the Leatherback Turtle females use one of their rear flippers to guide approximately 80 eggs gently into the sandy nest. The eggs are not brittle and easily breakable but instead rubbery and flexible. Once the eggs are laid, the female covers them with sand which she leaves in an untidy mess to confuse predators. Once her night of egg-laying work is done, the female returns to the sea.
The sex of the hatchlings is determined by the temperature of the eggs in the nest during incubation. Eggs incubating at 85.1 degrees F. will be a mixture of males and females. Those incubating at higher temperatures will be females, while those incubating at lower temperatures will be males.
Once out of the egg, the hatchlings run toward light in their quest to quickly reach the relative safety of the sea. Sometimes artificial light along the beach will send these hatchlings in the wrong direction, away from the sea rather than towards it, thus causing the loss of many of the baby Leatherbacks. By protecting the nesting areas, these light problems can be avoided.
Leatherback Sea Turtle Statistics
Leatherback Turtles are the largest of any sea turtles at a length of 6.5 feet. They can live up to 45 years. Nesting females usually weigh under 1,000 pounds while males can weigh as much as 2,000 pounds. While the females come ashore to nest, often on the same beaches where they themselves hatched, the males never leave the water.
Leatherbacks live in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea. They are able to dive up to three-fourths of a mile deep and remain underwater as long as 85 minutes. Strong swimmers, tagged individuals have been known to swim thousands of miles in search of their favorite prey, jellyfish.
The Leatherback Turtles get their name from the leathery skin of their backs. Their shells are actually formed of small bones covered by a bluish-colored rubbery skin. Long ridges run from head to tail down their backs. These turtles have a rather elongated, almost triangular shape rather than the more round shape of other sea turtles.
Critically Endangered
Today's Leatherback Turtles are globally identified as Critically Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Hopefully with the help of protected nesting areas such as those in Gabon, these wonderful creatures will be able to increase their population in the years ahead. The next step in their quest for a safer, longer life is to remove other environmental hazards they may encounter.
Sources:
National Geographic: Leatherback Sea Turtle
Pennie Packard - Pennie Packard is a wife, mother, grandmother, virtual assistant, and freelance writer. During her more than four years as a writer of ...
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