Daily Current Affairs on Leatherback sea turtles for UPSC Civil Services Examination (General Studies) Preparation

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Leatherback sea turtles

Context: Recently, Thailand has found the largest number of nests of rare leatherback sea turtles in two decades on beaches bereft of tourists because of the coronavirus pandemic.

About Leatherback sea turtles 

  • It is the only living species in the genus Dermochelys and family Dermochelyidae. 
  • It can easily be differentiated from other modern sea turtles by its lack of a bony shell, hence the name. Instead, its carapace is covered by skin and oily flesh.
  • Leatherbacks are the largest living turtle on record. 
  • Geographic Range: They are distributed across the globe with nesting sites on tropical sandy beaches and foraging ranges that extend into temperate and subpolar latitudes (except for the polar regions) where they dive deep underwater while migrating from nesting areas to feeding hot spots to chow down on jellyfish, the IUCN reported.
  • IUCN Status: Vulnerable
  • These turtles also face risks from fishing gear, pollution, climate change and severe weather, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
  • In a single reproductive season, mature females can lay between three and 10 clutches of 60 to 90 eggs.
  • However, most females wait two years or more between reproductive bouts. And a tiny percentage of these babies — just one in 1,000 — survives.
  • Less human traffic on beaches gives several advantages to these giant turtles.

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