Take a look inside the mouth of a Leatherback Turtle
- dontforgetaboutus team
- Apr 22, 2016
- 2 min read
These majestic turtles have lived in the oceans for over 100 million years. They are part of traditional culture for many coastal indigenous peoples throughout the world. They are found in tropical and temperate waters, and are most commonly reported feeding in coastal waters in central eastern Australia; south-east Australia and in south-western Western Australia.
The leatherback turtle is carnivorous and feeds mainly in the open ocean on jellyfish and other soft bodied creatures. Through this diet they can reach a weight of up to 1400 pounds! It's shell has several distinguishing features such as;
Carapace with 5 distinct ridges and no large scales
Black with light spotting
Adult carapace approximately 1.6 meters
The leatherback turtle looks ferocious when it opens it's jaw. It has hundreds of jagged stalactites called papillae, that line the turtle's mouth and esophagus all the way down to its stomach. This is due to the turtles diet of jellyfish and soft bodied invertebrates.
The biggest threats to this species include:
Entanglement in fishing gear
Poaching and illegal trade of eggs, meat, and shells
Coastal development
Plastic and other marine debris
Global warming
Ocean pollution
Thankfully, these guys are not being ignored. The Leatherback Trust is a non-profit organization dedicated to saving the leatherback sea turtle. Their mission is to promote the conservation of leatherbacks and other turtles at risk of extinction. These old, majestic creatures need our help, if you have any spare change please follow the links below and spare a dollar or two to this great organization.
The Australian government is also doing their bit and now has a recovery plan to help save these creatures and start bringing their numbers back up.
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