{"id":304,"date":"2008-09-08T22:32:25","date_gmt":"2008-09-09T02:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=304"},"modified":"2010-11-14T11:20:49","modified_gmt":"2010-11-14T16:20:49","slug":"sad-tale-of-two-dead-leatherback-sea-turtles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=304","title":{"rendered":"Sad Tale of Three Dead Leatherback Sea Turtles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Leviathans of the sea and giants of the reptile family, leatherback sea turtles define the term superlative.\u00c2\u00a0 Ranging in\u00c2\u00a0weight up to a ton and the size of a small Volkswagen, no one who has encountered one of these living\u00c2\u00a0relics in the wild comes away from the experience unchanged.\u00c2\u00a0 They are simply magnificent beasts that peacefully ply the world&#8217;s oceans in search of slurpy jellyfish.\u00c2\u00a0 The open mouth of a leatherback sea turtle (see below)\u00c2\u00a0is perfectly configured for this quest and is the last thing that a jellyfish senses before the lights go out.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/provincetown-lb-002-840.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-307\" title=\"provincetown-lb-002-840\" src=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/provincetown-lb-002-840.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"523\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/provincetown-lb-002-840.jpg 840w, https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/provincetown-lb-002-840-286x300.jpg 286w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><strong><em>Mouth of 650+ Pound Male Leatherback Sea Turtle<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, we humans offer them a complex series of lethal obstacles to avoid during their peaceful voyages.\u00c2\u00a0 Gill nets drown them, longlines hook them, propellers slice them, weirs trap them and lobster buoys entangle them.\u00c2\u00a0 Especially during the summer months in Cape Cod and Buzzards Bays as they chase plentiful jellyfish, endangered leatherbacks face a\u00c2\u00a0host of potential threats.<br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"><!--\ngoogle_ad_client = \"pub-6174531794045772\";\n\/* TJ adds, 336x280, created 11\/14\/10 *\/\ngoogle_ad_slot = \"5313686105\";\ngoogle_ad_width = 336;\ngoogle_ad_height = 280;\n\/\/-->\n<\/script><br \/>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"\nsrc=\"http:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/show_ads.js\">\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p><object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/IhIsO5s2-hc\" \/><embed type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/IhIsO5s2-hc\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><strong><em>Male Leatherback Arrives at Wellfleet Sanctuary for Necropsy<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A freshly dead 650+ pound male leatherback beached in Provincetown on Sunday and Mass Audubon&#8217;s Bob Prescott, the\u00c2\u00a0state sea turtle stranding coordinator, conducted a necropsy at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary to determine the cause of death and to gather scientific information to help us conserve this endangered species.\u00c2\u00a0 In addition to his staff, Bob (with large caliper below) was assisted by Kara Dodge, a PhD candidate at UNH and former NOAA sea turtle coordinator, and the Turtle Journal team.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/provincetown-lb-001-840.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-308\" title=\"provincetown-lb-001-840\" src=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/provincetown-lb-001-840.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"406\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/provincetown-lb-001-840.jpg 840w, https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/provincetown-lb-001-840-300x243.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Bob Prescott (Calipers), Don Lewis (Camera) and Kara Dodge (Scalpel)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Too large for normal scales, the\u00c2\u00a0mass of leatherbacks is determined by weighing the Mass Audubon pickup truck at the dump with the turtle inside, and then re-weighing the truck without the turtle.\u00c2\u00a0 The post revealed that this animal had been very healthy.\u00c2\u00a0 &#8220;It had everything going for it,&#8221; stated Bob and Kara.\u00c2\u00a0 Both flippers showed signs of a recent entanglement, but nothing so severe that these wounds would have caused death.\u00c2\u00a0 Instead, the cause of death was determined to be drowning.\u00c2\u00a0 The likely scenario for the death of such an inherently healthy animal is that it got entangled in a buoy line with both flippers\u00c2\u00a0wrapped in the rope and perhaps its body trunk as well.\u00c2\u00a0 With the last series of spring tides, the turtle may not have had sufficient line to reach the surface.\u00c2\u00a0 Like all turtles, leatherbacks are air breathers and will drown if held under water for a sustained period.\u00c2\u00a0 How this drowned animal had then become disentangled from the lines that had been wrapped tightly around its flippers is merely a matter of conjecture.<\/p>\n<p>This evening we received a call from Bob Prescott that there had been a report of a dead leatherback on a Westport beach near Horseneck.\u00c2\u00a0 We drove out to the site and after about 30 minutes of searching, we discovered a badly decomposed and deflated leatherback sea turtle.\u00c2\u00a0 Talking to a local resident, we learned it had been bouncing along the beach for at least the last three days.\u00c2\u00a0 We estimated the carapace at approximately 161.3 centimeters, but decomposition and deflation may have altered any accurate rendering of its precise size.\u00c2\u00a0 Bones were exposed throughout from head to back to flippers.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/westport-lb-001-840.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-309\" title=\"westport-lb-001-840\" src=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/westport-lb-001-840.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"365\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/westport-lb-001-840.jpg 840w, https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/westport-lb-001-840-300x219.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><strong><em>Decomposed Leatherback Sea Turtle in Wesport, MA<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\">Another decomposed, 600 pound leatherback washed ashore at Pico Beach in Mattapoisett Saturday night (<\/span><span style=\"font-family: Arial;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.southcoasttoday.com\/apps\/pbcs.dll\/article?AID=\/20080909\/NEWS\/809090352\/-1\/NEWS\">http:\/\/www.southcoasttoday.com\/apps\/pbcs.dll\/article?AID=\/20080909\/NEWS\/809090352\/-1\/NEWS<\/a>).\u00c2\u00a0 D<\/span>ealing with one dead leatherback is serious as population numbers of this critically endangered species continue to plummet.\u00c2\u00a0 Finding two dead leatherback carcasses in\u00c2\u00a0a weekend is a tragedy; but three dead leatherbacks\u00c2\u00a0fall beyond emotions and words.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet, a\u00c2\u00a0ray of turtle hope winked through the afternoon when a call came into the Hotline.\u00c2\u00a0 A woman found a small 1\/2 dollar size turtle in Plymouth, Massachusetts as kids were placing it in the ocean and the animal was being forced back to the shore by wave action and its own volition.\u00c2\u00a0 She thought she had discovered a baby sea turtle, or perhaps a diamondback terrapin hatchling.\u00c2\u00a0 A few questions cleared up the mystery.\u00c2\u00a0 Color?\u00c2\u00a0 Dark, almost black.\u00c2\u00a0 Long tail?\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, very long.\u00c2\u00a0 Bump along the tail?\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, like an ancient dinosaur.\u00c2\u00a0 Jagged edge\u00c2\u00a0along rear of carapace (top shell)?\u00c2\u00a0 Yep.\u00c2\u00a0 Does it have a yellow &#8220;button&#8221; in the middle of its tummy?\u00c2\u00a0 Yes.\u00c2\u00a0 Congratulations!\u00c2\u00a0 You are the proud holder of a snapping turtle hatchling.\u00c2\u00a0 With just a few more questions we discovered the local fresh water source from whence the hatchling probably came, either through its own design or more likely with the help of local kids.<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/snapper-hatchlings-0002-840.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-310\" title=\"snapper-hatchlings-0002-840\" src=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/snapper-hatchlings-0002-840.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"370\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/snapper-hatchlings-0002-840.jpg 840w, https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/09\/snapper-hatchlings-0002-840-300x222.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><strong><em>Snapping Turtle Hatchling<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;re right.\u00c2\u00a0 Snapping turtles aren&#8217;t endangered and they&#8217;re not leatherbacks.\u00c2\u00a0 But that doesn&#8217;t diminish the joy in helping a hatchling find hospitable habitat where it might have a fighting chance of survival.\u00c2\u00a0 Saving one turtle &#8230; even a snapper &#8230; isn&#8217;t a bad way to close\u00c2\u00a0the day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leviathans of the sea and giants of the reptile family, leatherback sea turtles define the term superlative.\u00c2\u00a0 Ranging in\u00c2\u00a0weight up to a ton and the size of a small Volkswagen, no one who has encountered one of these living\u00c2\u00a0relics in the wild comes away from the experience unchanged.\u00c2\u00a0 They are simply magnificent beasts that peacefully [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[86,100,113,96,106,95,119,122,115,128,129,116,112,97,105,111,114,82,90,118,125,29,130,107,123,84,81,94,91,99,127,120,102,108,87,88,126,121,92,98,83,104,109,101,25,57,124,110,85,89,93,103,117],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=304"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":320,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304\/revisions\/320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}