Olive-Ridley Turtles

OLIVE-RIDLEY TURTLE

Local name
Penyu Lipas

Shell length
50 - 70 centimetre

Weight
30 - 60 kilogramme

Colour
Olive brown

Food
Crustaceans, molluscs, jellyfish, fish and sea grass

Type
Reptile

Diet
Omnivore

Average lifespan in the wild
50 years

Did you know?
Male olive ridleys can be distinguished from females by their tails, which stick out beyond their carapace.

Protection status
Endangered

The olive-ridley is a small turtle species. Its average clutch size is over 110 eggs, which requires a 52 to 58 day incubation period. This species inhabits tropical and subtropical coastal bays and estuaries. In Malaysia, the nesting status of olive-ridley turtle is fragmentary, with records available only for the states of Terengganu, Kelantan and Penang. Nesting has been recorded in Sabah and Sarawak but the numbers are probably insignificant compared to the major sites.

The olive ridley turtle is named for the generally greenish color of its skin and shell, or carapace. It is closely related to the Kemp’s ridley, with the primary distinction being that olive ridleys are found only in warmer waters, including the southern Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.Olive and Kemp’s ridleys are the smallest of the sea turtles, weighing up to 100 pounds (45 kilograms) and reaching only about 2 feet (65 centimeters) in shell length.

The olive ridley has a slightly smaller head and smaller shell than the Kemp’s.These turtles are solitary, preferring the open ocean. They migrate hundreds or even thousands of miles (kilometers) every year, and come together as a group only once a year for the arribada, when females return to the beaches where they hatched and lumber onshore, sometimes in the thousands, to nest.Olive ridleys have nesting sites all over the world, on tropical and subtropical beaches. During nesting, they use the wind and the tide to help them reach the beach. Females lay about 100 eggs, but may nest up to three times a year.

The nesting season is from June to December.The olive ridley is mostly carnivorous, feeding on such creatures as jellyfish, snails, crabs, and shrimp. They will occasionally eat algae and seaweed as well. Hatchlings, most of which perish before reaching the ocean, are preyed on by crabs, raccoons, pigs, snakes, and birds, among others. Adults are often taken by sharks.

Though the olive ridley is widely considered the most abundant of the marine turtles, by all estimates, it is in trouble. Rough estimates put the worldwide population of nesting females at about 800,000, but its numbers, particularly in the western Atlantic have declined precipitously.

World have lists the population of olive ridleys as endangered and threatened.Many governments have protections and certain laws for olive ridleys, but still, eggs are taken and nesting females are slaughtered for their meat and skin. Fishing nets also take a large toll, frequently snagging and drowning these turtles.

Hawksbill Turtles

HAWKSBILL TURTLE

Hawksbill Turtle Profile

Local name
Penyu Sisik, Penyu Karah

Shell length
70 - 90 centimetre

Weight
40 - 90 kilogramme

Colour
Combination of dark brown, yellow and brown

Food
Mainly sponges; also anemones, squid and shrimp

Type
Reptile

Diet
Carnivore

Average lifespan in the wild
30 to 50 years (est.)

Did you know?
Young hawksbill turtles are unable to dive deep and spend their early years floating amongst sea plants near the water’s surface

Protection : Endangered

The hawksbill turtle is also one of the smaller sea turtles. Their shells are beautiful, which largely contributes to their endangered status. Humans kill them to get their shells, which are used to make jewellery and other products. Hawksbill turtles nest every three or more years. An average of two to four egg clutches are laid approximately fifteen days apart during nesting season. Each clutch contains an average of 160 eggs, which requires an approximately 60 day incubation period. This species inhabits near coral reefs in tropical oceans. In Malaysia, their nesting sites cover the shores of Terengganu, Johor, Melaka and Sabah, as well as Sarawak, and perhaps Pahang, Kedah and Kelantan.
Hawksbill turtles are found throughout the tropical waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. They avoid deep waters, preferring coastlines where sponges are abundant and sandy nesting sites are within reach. Not particularly large compared with other sea turtles, hawksbills grow up to about 45 inches (114 centimeters) in shell length and 150 pounds (68 kilograms) in weight. While young, their carapace, or upper shell, is heart-shaped, and as they mature it elongates. Their strikingly colored carapace is serrated and has overlapping scutes, or thick bony plates. Their tapered heads end in a sharp point resembling a bird’s beak, hence their name. A further distinctive feature is a pair of claws adorning each flipper.
Male hawksbills have longer claws, thicker tails, and somewhat brighter coloring than females.They are normally found near reefs rich in the sponges they like to feed on. Hawksbills are omnivorous and will also eat mollusks, marine algae, crustaceans, sea urchins, fish, and jellyfish. Their hard shells protect them from many predators, but they still fall prey to large fish, sharks, crocodiles, octopuses, and humans.

Like other sea turtles, hawksbills make incredible migrations in order to move from feeding sites to nesting grounds, normally on tropical beaches. Mating occurs every two to three years and normally takes place in shallow waters close to the shore. The nesting procedure begins when the turtles leave the sea to choose an area to lay their eggs. A pit is dug in the sand, filled with eggs, and then covered. At this stage the turtles retreat to the sea, leaving the eggs, which will hatch in about 60 days. The most dangerous time of their lives comes when hatchlings make the journey from their nests to the sea. Crabs and flocks of gulls voraciously prey on the young turtles during this short scamper.
Hawksbills are also a critically endangered species due mostly to human impact. Hawksbill eggs are still eaten around the world despite the turtle’s international protected status, and they are often killed for their flesh and their stunning shells. These graceful sea turtles are also threatened by accidental capture in fishing net.

The Green Turtles

THE GREEN TURTLE

Green Turtle Profiles.

Local name
Penyu Agar, Penyu Pulau

Shell length
90 - 110 centimetre

Weight
110 - 180 kilogramme

Colour
Olive-brown to green or black

Food
Mainly sea grass and seaweeds (adult)

Type

Reptile

Diet

Herbivore

Average lifespan in the wild
Over 80 years

The green turtle is the largest of the Cheloniidae family and are easily distinguished from other sea turtles because they have a single pair of scales in front of their eyes rather than two pairs as the other species. Diets of green turtles change significantly during its life. At less than eight inches long, green turtles eat worms, young crustaceans, aquatic insects, grasses and algae. Once green turtles reach eight to ten inches in length, they eat mostly sea grass and algae; the only sea turtle species that is strictly herbivorous as an adult.
Green turtles nest every three or more years. An average of three to five egg clutches are laid approximately twelve days between each nesting. Each clutch contains an average of 115 eggs, which requires an approximately 60 day incubation period. The green turtle can be found on tropical coasts and islands, and is the most widely distributed sea turtle species in Malaysia. In Peninsular Malaysia, major nesting sites include Perhentian and Redang Islands off Terengganu, and mainland beaches of Terengganu at Penarik, Kemaman and Kertih.
They can also be found nesting in Pahang (Chendor and Cherating) and Perak (Pantai Remis). In East Malaysia, the green turtle nesting sites are on the shores of Sarawak Turtle Islands, the Turtle Islands in Sabah and Sipadan Island.
The green turtle is a large, weighty sea turtle with a wide, smooth carapace, or shell. It inhabits tropical and subtropical coastal waters around the world and has been observed clambering onto land to sunbathe.It is named not for the color of its shell, which is normally brown or olive depending on its habitat, but for the greenish color of its skin.
There are two types of green turtles—scientists are currently debating whether they are subspecies or separate species—including the Atlantic green turtle, normally found off the shores of Europe and North America, and the Eastern Pacific green turtle, which has been found in coastal waters from Alaska to Chile.Weighing up to 700 pounds (317.5 kilograms) green turtles are among the largest sea turtles in the world. Their proportionally small head, which is nonretractable, extends from a heart-shaped carapace that measures up to 5 feet (1.5 meters). Males are slightly larger than females and have a longer tail. Both have flippers that resemble paddles, which make them powerful and graceful swimmers.
Unlike most sea turtles, adult green turtles are herbivorous, feeding on sea grasses and algae. Juvenile green turtles, however, will also eat invertebrates like crabs, jellyfish, and sponges.While most sea turtles warm themselves by swimming close to the surface of shallow waters, the Eastern Pacific green turtle will take to land to bask in the sun. Occasionally seen sunbathing alongside seals and albatrosses, it is one of the few marine turtles known to leave the water other than at nesting times.
Green turtles, like other sea turtles, undertake lengthy migrations from feeding sites to nesting grounds, normally on sandy beaches. Mating occurs every two to four years and normally takes place in shallow waters close to the shore. To nest, females leave the sea and choose an area, often on the same beach used by their mothers, to lay their eggs. They dig a pit in the sand with their flippers, fill it with a clutch of 100 to 200 eggs, cover the pit and return to the sea, leaving the eggs to hatch after about two months. The most dangerous time of a green turtle’s life is when it makes the journey from nest to sea. Multiple predators, including crabs and flocks of gulls, voraciously prey on hatchlings during this short scamper.
Green turtles are listed as an endangered species, and a subpopulation in the Mediterranean is listed as critically endangered. Despite this, they are still killed for their meat and eggs. Their numbers are also reduced by boat propeller accidents, fishnet-caused drowning, and the destruction of their nesting grounds by human encroachment.

Giant Leatherback Turtles

LEATHERBACKS TURTLES

Leatherback Profiles

Local name
Penyu Belimbing

Shell length
150 - 180 centimetre

Weight
300 - 600 kilogramme

Colour
Black with white or grey patches

Food
Mainly jellyfish

Type
Reptile

Diet

Omnivore

Average lifespan in the world

45 years (estimated)

Size

6 ft (2 m)

Did you know?

The largest leatherback ever found was an 8.5-foot-long (2.6-meter-long) male weighing 2,020 pounds (916 kilograms) that washed up on the West Coast of Wales in 1988.

Protection status

Endangered

The leatherback is the champion of sea turtles. It grows the largest, dives the deepest, and travels the farthest of all sea turtles. The leatherback turtle is the most unusual and distinctive of all sea turtles, as it is the only turtle that lacks a hard shell. Instead, this species has a large, elongate shell which is composed of a layer of thin, tough, rubbery skin, strengthened by thousands of tiny bone plates. Seven narrow ridges run down the length of the carapace, and the lower shell is whitish to black, and marked by five ridges. The body of a leatherback is barrel shaped, tapering at the posterior to a blunt point.
With this streamlined body shape and the powerful front flippers, a leatherback can swim thousands of miles across the open ocean and against fast currents. Leatherback turtles nest at intervals of two to three years. An average of six to nine egg clutches are laid approximately ten days between each nesting. Each clutch contains an average of 80 fertilized eggs the size of billiard balls and 30 smaller unfertilized eggs, which requires an approximately 65 days incubation period. The leatherback turtle can be found in tropical oceans, but they migrate to temperate waters to feed. In Malaysia, this species nest largely on the mainland beaches of Terengganu; especially along a 15 km stretch of beach centered at Rantau Abang.

Leatherback sea turtles are among the most endangered animals on the planet. These reptilian relics, part of a family of turtles that lived over 100 million years ago, are the only remaining representatives of their genus. They survived the demise of the dinosaurs and now teeter on the brink of extinction themselves.Leatherbacks are the largest turtles on Earth,growing up to 8.5 feet (2.6 meters) in length and exceeding 2,000 pounds(907 kilograms).

They may live 45 years or more, but human threats, such as fishing lines and nets, mean most leatherbacks meet an early end.Other threats include illegal egg harvesting and loss of nesting habitat. Hatchlings often die when beachfront lighting draws them away from the ocean, and hundreds die at sea when they swallow floating plastic debris mistaken for their favorite food: jellyfish.In all, only about one in 1,000 leatherbacks survives to adulthood. The worldwide population is estimated at about 26,000 to 43,000 nesting females annually, but they are suffering exponential declines and are critically endangered throughout their range.While all other sea turtles have hard, bony shells, the smooth, black carapace of the leatherback is soft, almost rubbery to the touch.
They can dive 4,035 feet (1,230 meters) below the surface, deeper than any other turtle, and can stay down for up to 35 minutes.Their enormous range comprises the tropical and temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. However, unlike other reptiles, their body temperature stays well above the surrounding water, and they have been found in the icy seas as far north as British Columbia, Canada, and as far south as the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa.

Kemp's Ridley Turtles

KEMP'S RIDLEY TURTLES

Kemp's Ridley Profiles

Type
Reptile

Diet
Omnivore

Average lifespan in the wild
About 50 years

Size
2 ft (65 cm)

Weight
100 lbs (45 kg)

Did you know?
A 1947 amateur film showed some 40,000 female Kemp's ridley turtles nesting in Mexico in a single day. Today, it is estimated that only about 1,000 breeding females exist worldwide.

Protection status
Endangered

The Kemp’s ridley turtle is the world’s most endangered sea turtle, and with a worldwide female nesting population roughly estimated at just 1,000 individuals, its survival truly hangs in the balance. Their perilous situation is attributed primarily to the over-harvesting of their eggs during the last century. And though their nesting grounds are protected and many commercial fishing fleets now use turtle excluder devices in their nets, these turtles have not been able to rebound.For this reason, their nesting processions, called arribadas, make for especially high drama.

During an arribada, females take over entire portions of beaches, lugging their big bodies through the sand with their flippers until they find a satisfying spot to lay their eggs. Even more riveting is the later struggle to the ocean of each tiny, vulnerable hatchling. Beset by predators, hatchlings make this journey at night, breaking out of their shells using their caruncle, a single temporary tooth grown just for this purpose.Found primarily in the Gulf of Mexico, but also as far north as Nova Scotia, Kemp’s ridleys are among the smallest sea turtles, reaching only about 2 feet (65 centimeters) in shell length and weighing up to 100 pounds (45 kilograms).

Their upper shell, or carapace, is a greenish-grey color, and their bellies are off-white to yellowish.They prefer shallow waters, where they dive to the bottom to feed on crabs, which are their favorite food, and other shellfish. They also eat jellyfish, and occasionally munch on seaweed and sargassum.

They may live to be 50 years old.Females aren’t sexually mature until about ten to twelve years of age. They nest every one to three years and may lay several clutches of eggs each season. Highly migratory animals, they often travel hundreds of miles (kilometers) to reach their nesting beach, usually the same beach they hatched from.

Loggerhead Turtles

LOGGERHEAD TURTLES

Loggerhead Profiles

Type
Reptile

Diet
Carnivore

Average lifespan in the wild
More than 50 years

Size
36 in (90 cm)

Weight
253 lbs (115 kg)

Group name
Flotilla

Did you know?
Sea turtles can move through the water at speeds of up to 15 miles (24 kilometers) per hour.

Protection status
Endangered

Loggerhead turtles are the most abundant of all the marine turtle species in U.S. waters. But persistent population declines due to pollution, shrimp trawling, and development in their nesting areas, among other factors, have kept this wide-ranging seagoer on the threatened species list since 1978.Their enormous range encompasses all but the most frigid waters of the world's oceans. They seem to prefer coastal habitats, but often frequent inland water bodies and will travel hundreds of miles out to sea.
The largest of all hard-shelled turtles—leatherbacks are bigger but have soft shells—loggerheads have massive heads, strong jaws, and a reddish-brown shell, or carapace. Adult males reach about three feet (nearly one meter) in shell length and weigh about 250 pounds (113 kilograms), but large specimens of more than 1,000 pounds (454 kilograms) have been found.They are primarily carnivores, munching jellyfish, conchs, crabs, and even fish, but will eat seaweed and sargassum occasionally.
Mature females will often return, sometimes over thousands of miles, to the beach where they hatched to lay their eggs. Worldwide population numbers are unknown, but scientists studying nesting populations are seeing marked decreases despite endangered species protections.