Species Destruction Leatherback

Species Destruction Leatherback

This article discusses  the continuous decline in the Leatherback turtle population.  The Leatherback Sea turtle is the world’s largest sea turtle being able to grow up to six feet in length and weigh close to 2000 pounds and can have an estimated lifespan of about 80 years.  A study tracking the number of species since the 1980s recorded that only 500 turtles are now nesting at their last large nesting site in the pacific as opposed to the thousands that there used to be.  The article goes on to report that the population of western Pacific Leatherback in the last 27 years has dropped by about 75 percent and that out of its four primary nesting sites in the Pacific, one of them is now extinct in terms of turtles stopping to nest and the other two have had their nesting populations drop by 95 percent.  Sea turtles such has the Leatherback have persisted since the time of the dinosaurs thus most of these recent extinction rates are due chiefly to human interference.  Some of the reasons list in the article include large dangerous fishing nets which often catch and kill these turtles (leatherback are the only turtle that live in open ocean) as well as pollution in the ocean.  Other reasons the link humans to the decline have to do with climate change as the increase in temperature disrupts egg hatching and has caused less young turtles to hatch as well overhunting the turtles and introducing species such as hogs to beaches were eggs are laid resulting in the animals digging up and eating the eggs.

I choose this article because it is a good example of the effects environment destruction is having on a specific species.  One thing that the article did not include that I believe it should have was why this is important.  It did not mention any of the ecological benefits that leatherbacks have or why it was important.  For many people in order to get them to care about an issue the often need a reason to do so or they do not see the importance of spending a lot of time in helping one species.  It also was not specific on which countries were primarily responsible for the decline if any nor did the article mention anything about the Atlantic Leatherback.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/02/27/us-turtles-leatherback-idUKBRE91Q0VA20130227

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