{"id":1042,"date":"2012-07-11T20:04:22","date_gmt":"2012-07-11T12:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jurassicgarage.hk\/blog\/?p=1042"},"modified":"2012-09-01T02:01:58","modified_gmt":"2012-08-31T18:01:58","slug":"20000-leatherback-babies-crashed-by-heavy-machinery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jurassicgarage.hk\/blog\/20000-leatherback-babies-crashed-by-heavy-machinery\/","title":{"rendered":"20,000 Leatherback Babies Crashed by Heavy Machinery"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(AP Photo\/Papa Bois Conservation)<\/p><\/div>\n

Within 2 weeks time, the earth has lost its last remaining Pinta Island Giant Tortoise<\/a>, and up to 20,000 Leatherback sea turtle hatchlings. Both species have a natural lifespan of over 100-150 years.<\/p>\n

The former species was the world’s largest tortoise, which is just extinct.<\/p>\n

The latter is even bigger. It is the largest of all living chelonians. The largest recorded specimen was 10 ft long and over 2,000 lbs, found in 1988.<\/p>\n

Giant animals might be stronger than smaller animals physically. But when it comes to survivability under human-caused threats, a chihuahua in a lady’s handbag can be stronger.<\/p>\n

The Leatherback is a unique turtle not only because it is the largest turtle. It also has a special carapace\u00a0covered by skin and oily flesh instead of a hard bony shell like other turtles. The only extant member of the family Dermochelyidae, now it is listed as critically endangered – one step beyond extinction. With an environment like now, we estimate it will go extinct within 10-15 years.<\/p>\n

This time, a Ministry of Works employee operates a bulldozer next to destroyed as many as 20,000 leatherback eggs and lively hatchlings on the banks of the Grande Riviere Beach in Trinidad. It was claimed to be working with a shifting river that was threatening a hotel where international tourists watch the rare turtles lay their eggs. That is ironic.<\/p>\n

It, again, proves that eco-tourism has to be done by professionals with conservation background. Otherwise it only kills the nature.<\/p>\n

The critically endangered sea turtles are not only treated by tourism, pollution is another as everyone knows. But maybe not everyone knows how exactly. I have done autopsies on dead sea turtles washed ashore. The turtles were gut-loaded with plastic bags. Plastic bags floating in the sea look like jellyfish, which is their main diet.<\/p>\n

Learn more, people. You don’t see blood doesn’t mean you haven’t killed them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Within 2 weeks time, the earth has lost its last remaining Pinta Island Giant Tortoise, and up to 20,000 Leatherback sea turtle hatchlings. Both species have a natural lifespan of over 100-150 years. The former species was the world’s largest tortoise, which is just extinct. The latter is even bigger. It is the largest of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,14],"tags":[21],"class_list":["post-1042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-tortoises","tag-turtle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jurassicgarage.hk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jurassicgarage.hk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jurassicgarage.hk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jurassicgarage.hk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jurassicgarage.hk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1042"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.jurassicgarage.hk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1084,"href":"https:\/\/www.jurassicgarage.hk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042\/revisions\/1084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jurassicgarage.hk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jurassicgarage.hk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jurassicgarage.hk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}