On The Way Of Extinction - The Hawksbill Sea Turtle

Sea Turtles are a joy to see when you are fortunate enough to spend time among them in the ocean. The Hawksbill turtle is one of several that you are likely to encounter and are usually found in the waters of Thailand, Fiji and Malaysia.

Baby Turtles are hatched from eggs that their mother has buried in the sand. Once they break out of their eggs they instinctively head for the sea, experts believe they are guided by the moonlight. For many years these creatures could not be found in their natural habitat at a young age. However, recently they were located in the Atlantic Ocean. The fledgling turtles were enjoying a diet of sargassum weed and small animals that were hiding among the weeds. A young sea turtle is at risk from a variety of predators such as seabirds, fish and crabs, once they make it to adulthood their risk of falling victim to predators other than humans is low.

The Hawksbill sea turtle is at risk for extinction and are too often poached for their beautiful shell. The turtles found in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans are subspecies of the sea turtle. The body shape is flat and they have arms that work as flippers allowing them to move easily through the water. The shell of a Hawksbill turtle will vary in color depending upon the temperature of the water they are in. The turtles are occasionally found in the open ocean, but prefer shallower areas such as coral reefs and inlets.

The diet of the Hawksbill sea turtle often includes tunicates, jellyfish and squid. The turtle is able to use their strong jaws to cut through the flesh of these creatures. The turtle's favorite meal is the sponge and part of their reduced numbers in nature is due to lack of the Hawksbill's preferred food.

The sexual maturity of the Hawksbill sea turtle is not known. However, once they are able to reproduce they will do so every 2-3 years. The turtles mate in lagoon areas that aren't very deep and the female turtle will make her way out of the water and dig a nest for her eggs in the sand. When her nest is deep enough she will then cover her eggs. This activity will take the turtle about 1-3 hours to accomplish.

The Hawksbill sea turtle differs from other types of sea turtles. The 5 characteristics that are different include claws on their flippers, a long beak designed mouth, a scale on their shell, four pairs of rib bones and their head has two pairs of scales on the front. The turtle's mouth is able to reach into small areas of coral reefs to locate food and their overall length varies from.62 to 1.14 m. The Hawksbill usually weighs around 80 kg.

The Hawksbill turtle can live to be 32 years old and they are thought to be the most tropical of the species. The animals nesting areas are difficult to locate because they change where they mate, this has been a challenge for advocates who are trying to keep them protected.

The Maldives Islands is known for its plentiful sea life including the Hawksbill sea turtle. The turtle is able to find its favorite sponges to eat and the islands offer perfect nesting locations for the female turtles. Saving these creatures is vital to the fragile marine ecosystem and those who kill them for their shells need to be stopped. The Hawksbill sea turtle is an amazing animal that has fought to survive and the human race should be working to prevent their extinction.

The Hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) which once was found in abundance around the world is now on the way of extinction. The reasons behind their declination are many. Different human created and natural forces are working behind the reduction in their quantity. One of the greatest threats to their existence is the loss of coral reefs which is the habitat for Hawksbill turtles. Coral reefs are being destructed and degraded due to reckless human activities.

Human activities can affect coral reef communities in both ways gradually and catastrophically. We, humans are doing everything for our better and comfortable living without thinking about the impact of our activities on the environment. We are building more and more factories, cars, engines to meet the rapidly increasing demand of us. And to build new things we are destroying the forests and filling out the water sources. These are polluting the environment. We are burning more and more fossil fuels to run these things which is producing huge amount of Carbon-Di-Oxide every day. As the number of trees is decreasing at an alarming rate, this additional carbon is not being absorbed by anything, it is prevailing in the earth's environment.

Carbon-Di-Oxide prevents the heat from being radiated and the temperature of the earth is increasing day by day. Recently evidences have been found about the impact of global warming caused by human on coral reef communities. Climate change is affecting the corals by causing diseases frequently which can destroy the whole community of corals. As the hawksbill sea turtles depend on coral reefs for food and habitat their declination will cause severe threat to the existence of hawksbill turtles.

Excessive harvesting of the hawksbill sea turtles is the primary reason behind the declination of them. They are being harvested for their beautiful shell even since the Egyptian era. Shell of Hawksbill turtles are of great economic value. It is used in producing cosmetics, oils, perfumes and other products. In the north Caribbean islands, hawksbill turtles are harvested for their carapace which is often used to produce clips, jewelry, combs and many other ornaments.