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Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked turtles), which differ in the way the head retracts.
- Green sea turtle
The green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), also known as the...
- Leatherback sea turtle
The leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), sometimes...
- Loggerhead sea turtle
The loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) is a species of...
- Green sea turtle
Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea ), sometimes called marine turtles, [3] are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhead, Kemp's ridley, and olive ridley.
The green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas), also known as the green turtle, black (sea) turtle or Pacific green turtle, is a species of large sea turtle of the family Cheloniidae. It is the only species in the genus Chelonia.
- Taxonomy and Evolution
- Anatomy and Physiology
- Distribution
- Ecology and Life History
- Importance to Humans
- Conservation
- Further Reading
Taxonomy
Dermochelys coriacea the only species in genus Dermochelys. The genus, in turn, contains the only extant member of the family Dermochelyidae. Domenico Agostino Vandelli named the species first in 1761 as Testudo coriacea after an animal captured at Ostia and donated to the University of Padua by Pope Clement XIII. In 1816, French zoologist Henri Blainville coined the term Dermochelys. The leatherback was then reclassified as Dermochelys coriacea. In 1843, the zoologist Leopold Fitzinger put t...
Evolution
Relatives of modern leatherback turtles have existed in relatively the same form since the first true sea turtles evolved over 110 million years ago during the Cretaceous period. The dermochelyids are relatives of the family Cheloniidae, which contains the other six extant sea turtle species. However, their sister taxon is the extinct family Protostegidaethat included other species that did not have a hard carapace.
Leatherback turtles have the most hydrodynamic body of any sea turtle, with a large, teardrop-shapedbody. A large pair of front flippers powers the turtles through the water. Like other sea turtles, the leatherback has flattened forelimbs adapted for swimming in the open ocean. Claws are absent from both pairs of flippers. The leatherback's flipper...
The leatherback turtle is a species with a cosmopolitan global range. Of all the extant sea turtle species, D. coriacea has the widest distribution, reaching as far north as Alaska and Norway and as far south as Cape Agulhas in Africa and the southernmost tip of New Zealand. The leatherback is found in all tropical and subtropical oceans, and its r...
Habitat
Leatherback sea turtles can be found primarily in the open ocean. Scientists tracked a leatherback turtle that swam from Jen Womom beach of Tambrauw Regency in West Papua of Indonesia to the U.S.A. in a 20,000 km (12,000 mi) foraging journey over a period of 647 days. Leatherbacks follow their jellyfish prey throughout the day, resulting in turtles "preferring" deeper water in the daytime, and shallower water at night (when the jellyfish rise up the water column). This hunting strategy often...
Feeding
Adult D. coriacea turtles subsist almost entirely on jellyfish. Due to their obligate feeding nature, leatherbacks help control jellyfish populations. Leatherbacks also feed on other soft-bodied organisms, such as other cnidarians (siphonophores), tunicates (salps and pyrosomas) and cephalopods (squid). They're also believed to feed on small crustaceans (amphipods and crabs), fish (possibly symbiotes with jellies), sea urchins, snails, seagrasses, and algae. Pacific leatherbacks migrate about...
Lifespan
Very little is known of the species' lifespan. Some reports claim "30 years or more", while others state "50 years or more".. Others state "50 years or more", and upper estimates exceed 100 years.. In 2020, researchers from CSIRO, Australia's National Science Agency, developed a method to calculate the natural lifespan of vertebrate animals by leveraging genetic markers and known lifespans of various species. From the genomic sequencing of DNA samples taken from five different marine turtle s...
People around the world still harvest sea turtle eggs. Asian exploitation of turtle nests has been cited as the most significant factor for the species' global population decline. In Southeast Asia, egg harvesting in countries such as Thailand and Malaysia has led to a near-total collapse of local nesting populations. In Malaysia, where the turtle ...
Leatherback turtles have few natural predators once they mature; they are most vulnerable to predation in their early life stages. Birds, small mammals, and other opportunists dig up the nests of turtles and consume eggs. Shorebirds and crustaceans prey on the hatchlings scrambling for the sea. Once they enter the water, they become prey to predato...
Wood, Roger Conant; Johnson-Gove, Jonnie; Gaffney, Eugene S.; Maley, Kevin F. (1996). "Evolution and phylogeny of the leatherback turtles (Dermochelyidae), with descriptions of new fossil taxa". Ch...The Leatherback Turtle: Biology and Conservation. United States, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015.Rake, Jody Sullivan. Leatherback Sea Turtles. United States, Capstone Press, 2012.Hirsch, Rebecca E.. Leatherback Sea Turtles: Ancient Swimming Reptiles. United States, Lerner Publishing Group, 2015.Turtles are one of the many reptiles on earth. They have a hard shell, which is useful for camouflage and protection from other animals. There are two types of turtles: side-necked turtles and hidden neck turtles. Side-necked turtles have long necks, but hidden neck turtles have very small necks.
The loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta) is a species of oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around 90 cm (35 in) in carapace length when fully grown.
I Turtles sono un gruppo musicale sunshine pop e folk rock statunitense formatosi a Los Angeles nel 1965, conosciuti principalmente per il brano Happy Together del 1967 che arrivò primo nella Billboard Hot 100 per tre settimane.
