Blog Post #8: Loggerhead Sea Turtles
The species that I chose is the Loggerhead Sea Turtle, also known as Caretta caretta. The Loggerhead Sea Turtles in Washington are part of the federally endangered North Pacific DPS. They Migrate from Japan where they nest and then mostly go to the coastal waters of North America. They are rarely seen making it to Oregon and Washington. As stated in the WDFW publication "global population trends for this species indicate a decrease of 47% over the past 100 to 150 years" (Sato). These turtles got their name because of how their heads seemed to resemble logs. They are mostly located in the United states but they do live in oceans all over the world. Their average life span in the wild is to age 50 or older. They are carnivores and eat things such as jellyfish, conchs, crabs and fish. As stated in the WDFW publication the main threats to this species include the "harvest of eggs, juvenile and adults; incidental capture in commercial and recreational fisheries; destruction and modification of nesting habitat; and marine debris" (Sato). They are very much affected by climate change because they are very vunerable to it. Climate change can have an impact on many areas of their lives. What makes this species vulnerable is how easily they are affected by numerous factors such as pollution. Many things are being done to protect this species such as the "regulation of commercial fisheries to reduce incidental by catch of the sea turtles, establishment of conservation areas and stranding and disentanglement networks, and projects to monitor and protect nesting beaches in Mexico and Japan" (Sato). I picked this organism because I really like turtles and I was curious to learn more about them. One of the interesting things that I learned about them is how old they can grow to be in the wild.
Resources:
http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01870/
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/loggerhead-sea-turtle/#loggerhead-sea-turtle-swimming-underwater.jpg
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/l/loggerhead-sea-turtle/
you would think that people would start to realize that taking newborn animals would be bad for their population. Its sad to see that people are willing to go as far as take eggs before they have even hatched.
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