Status:
Loggerhead - Endangered (IUCN Red List)
Green - Endangered (IUCN Red List)
Leatherback – Critically Endangered (IUCN Red List)
Hawksbill – Critically Endangered (IUCN Red List)
Kemp's ridley – Critically Endangered (IUCN Red List)
Olive ridley - Endangered (IUCN Red List)
Flatback – Data Deficient (IUCN Red List)

Description & Special Features: Sea Turtles date back to long before the Age of the Reptiles, when their ancestors shared the world with dinosaurs. They live in the oceans from the far north to the far south, but only breed in warm waters. Today seven species of sea turtle are critically endangered.

Sea turtles are critical players in marine biodiversity and are highly migratory- breeding, nesting, and feeding across thousands of miles of ocean. They are air-breathing reptiles that have survived more than 110 million years of evolution. During their historic radiation that separated them from all other turtles, they split into two distinct family subgroups: the unique family Dermochelyidae, which consists of a single species, the Leatherback; and the six species of hard-shelled sea turtle in the family Cheloniidae. Their shells consist of an upper part (carapace) and a lower section (plastron). Hard scales (or scutes) cover all but the leatherback, and the number and arrangement of these scutes can be used to determine the species. Sea turtles come in many different sizes, shapes and colors. The Olive ridley is usually less than 100 pounds, while the Leatherback has been recorded up to 2000 pounds. Sea turtles do not have teeth, but their jaws have modified "beaks" suited to their particular diet.

Range & Habitat: Sea turtles are found in every ocean on the planet but prefer to stay in coastal areas. They use tropical and sub-tropical beaches as nesting sites during reproduction. The populations of all seven species are distributed across the oceans, as they share the same migratory lifecycles.

Diet: Diet varies with species. Sea turtles may be carnivorous (meat eating), herbivorous (plant eating), or omnivorous (eating both meat and plants). The jaw structure of many species indicates their diet.

1. Green and black sea turtles have finely serrated jaws adapted for a vegetarian diet of sea grasses and algae. In adulthood, they are the only herbivorous sea turtles, but in an aquarium environment all sea turtle species can be maintained on a carnivorous diet.
2. Loggerheads' and ridleys' jaws are adapted for crushing and grinding. Their diet consists primarily of crabs, mollusks, shrimps, jellyfish, and vegetation.
3. A hawksbill has a narrow head with jaws meeting at an acute angle, adapted for getting food from crevices in coral reefs. They eat sponges, tunicates, shrimps, and squids.
4. Leatherbacks have delicate scissorlike jaws that would be damaged by anything other than their normal diet of jellyfish, tunicates, and other soft-bodied animals. The mouth cavity and throat are lined with papillae (spinelike projections) pointed backward to help them swallow soft foods.
5. Researchers continue to study the feeding habits of flatbacks. There is evidence that they are opportunistic feeders that eat seaweeds, cuttlefish, and sea cucumbers.

Some species change eating habits as they age. For instance, green sea turtles are mainly carnivorous from hatchling until juvenile size; they then progressively shift to an herbivorous diet.

Threats:  The greatest threats to sea turtles today arise from human activities. The increasing development of coastal areas has resulted in both the loss and degradation of sea turtle nesting habitat.

Artificial lighting along beachfront areas may deter nesting females from coming ashore to lay their eggs and may disorient hatchlings and adults. At sea, turtles may become entangled in fishing line, or fatally consume waste dumped in the sea, such as plastics. They are hit by boats and drowned in the nets of commercial shrimpers. The increasing level of persistent pollutants in our seas and oceans including heavy metals like mercury and highly toxic chemicals is diminishing their chances of survival.

On land their eggs are often stolen and sold as a delicacy. Turtles are also captured to supply the trade for their meat, oil, leather and attractive shell.

These combined threats to the sea turtle may mean that some populations will decline to such low levels that they cannot recover. We may soon see the extinction of these magnificent and ancient animals.

Trade in Body Parts
Many countries still allow the commercial exploitation of sea turtles for food, oil, leather, and jewellery. As food, turtles are sometimes kept alive while flesh is cut from their bodies in order that the meat stays fresh. Turtle oil is used for caulking boats or for medicinal purposes. Turtle skin can be turned into leather and is used for shoes and handbags, while its shell is used to make sunglasses, trinkets and jewellery. Sometimes the entire carcass is stuffed and sold as a souvenir or turned into novelty items such as musical instruments.

Consumers
The largest consumers of turtle products are China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. However, the demand for turtle products is not confined to these countries and exists all over the world. Wildlife investigators have reported that more than 240 tonnes of turtle, representing more than 200,000 individual turtles, were leaving Vietnam each year for sale in China in 1994. By 1996, 2 to 4 tonnes of turtle were being exported each day from Phnom Penh in Cambodia.

Alternatives
The long haul fishing nets of commercial shrimpers which often trap sea turtles, can be fitted with turtle exclusion devices (TEDs) and there are now many synthetic alternatives available that make very convincing replacements for turtle-shell.

Sources & Further Information:
www.ccturtle.org
http://www.buschgardens.org/infobooks/SeaTurtle/stdiet.html
IUCN Red List www.redlist.org

What You Can Do:
If sea turtles are to survive, the trade in their eggs and body parts must cease. Local projects to reduce turtle mortality and protect nest sites must be established worldwide. Turtle reserves can become a valuable tourist attraction and in some places baby turtles are hatched and reared in captivity to be released into the wild, often by tourists who will pay for the privilege of seeing such a rare sight.

NEVER BUY TURTLE PRODUCTS.

Tell your friends and relatives never to buy them.

Explain that they are causing the killing and possible extinction of turtle populations.

If you see sea turtle products on sale inform the authorities.

Warn any potential buyers that they risk fines and even jail if they are caught.

Help to raise money to support conservation projects to protect turtles in the wild.

Write to your Government representatives asking them to do more to protect the world's remaining sea turtles, especially Southeast Asian populations, where numbers have plummeted in recent years.

Join us in our efforts to protect endangered sea turtles.

Sign ACAP's Global Peoples' Petition for Wildlife