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And if a turtle stays underwater too long-even in the open sea-its cloacal respiration can’t keep up with its oxygen needs, and it will have to surface for a breath. In a closed space like an iced-over pond, oxygen in the water can run out. If you were a predator, especially hunting from above, you’d have a hard time seeing them!īut cloacal respiration doesn’t mean that turtles can stay underwater forever. Their shells and coloring blend in well with the coral they rest on, helping keep them safe. How Many Teeth Do Alligators Have Alligators can have between 70 and 80 teeth in their jaws at any point in their life. The overall robustness of alligator teeth allows them to withstand the crushing force of the alligator’s jaws. And they can get what they do need directly from water by pulling it into their cloaca (an opening in their body), where it moves past blood vessels that can absorb oxygen from it-no lungs required!īecause of cloacal respiration, sea turtles often sleep underwater. Smaller, blunt teeth help the alligator crush hard-shelled organisms particularly turtles. With each breath of air, they use their lungs to take in lots of oxygen to fuel their active muscles.īut when they’re resting or hibernating, turtles can stay underwater longer, because their inactive bodies don’t need as much oxygen. When turtles are moving around in the water a lot, they come to the surface to breathe frequently. Scientists around the world are tracking and studying leatherbacks to learn more about these reptilian giants and how they can be saved.Turtles can hold their breath underwater from minutes to months, depending on their species and their activity level. Some Pacific populations have disappeared entirely from certain areas, such as Malaysia. The number of leatherbacks in the Atlantic appears to be stable or increasing, but the Pacific population is declining at an alarming rate due to egg harvest, fishery bycatch, coastal development, and highly variable food availability. Some individuals have been found to have almost 11 pounds of plastic in their stomachs. Leatherbacks also can die if they ingest floating plastic debris mistaken for their favorite food: jellyfish. Many leatherbacks fall victim to fishing lines and nets, or are struck by boats. Eggs are often taken by humans from nests to be consumed for subsistence or as aphrodisiacs. what is the sea turtle life cycle Baby turtles (or hatchlings) start out as eggs that are laid in nests on beaches around the world. It is estimated that only about one in a thousand leatherback hatchlings survive to adulthood. Many leatherbacks meet an early end due to human activity. Males spend the rest of their lives at sea. Female hatchlings that make it to sea will roam the oceans until they reach sexual maturity, when they return to the same nesting areas to produce their own offspring. A mix of male and female hatchlings occurs when the nest temperature is approximately 85.1 degrees Fahrenheit, while higher temperatures produce females and cooler temperatures produce males. The temperature inside the nest determines the sex of the hatchlings. The nighttime ritual involves excavating a hole in the sand, depositing around 80 eggs, filling the nest, leaving a large, disturbed area of sand that makes detection by predators difficult, and finally returning to the sea. After mating at sea, females come ashore during the breeding season to nest. Leatherbacks undertake the longest migrations between breeding and feeding areas of any sea turtle, averaging 3,700 miles each way. These adaptations include large body size, changes in swimming activity and blood flow, and a thick layer of fat. Unlike their reptilian relatives, leatherbacks are able to maintain warm body temperatures in cold water by using a unique set of adaptations that allows them to both generate and retain body heat. Adult leatherbacks also traverse as far north as Canada and Norway and as far south as New Zealand and South America. They can be found in the tropic and temperate waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, as well as the Mediterranean Sea. Leatherbacks have the widest global distribution of all reptile species, and possibly of any vertebrate. Leatherbacks can dive to depths of 4,200 feet-deeper than any other turtle-and can stay down for up to 85 minutes. Ridges along the carapace help give it a more hydrodynamic structure.
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While all other sea turtles have hard, bony shells, the inky-blue carapace of the leatherback is somewhat flexible and almost rubbery to the touch. Once prevalent in every ocean except the Arctic and Antarctic, the leatherback population is rapidly declining in many parts of the world. These reptilian relics are the only remaining representatives of a family of turtles that traces its evolutionary roots back more than 100 million years. Leatherbacks are the largest turtles on Earth, growing up to seven feet long and exceeding 2,000 pounds.