Olive Ridley Turtle Facts
- The olive ridley is a small sea turtle, with an adult carapace length averaging 60 to 70 cm.
- Their heads are quite small.
- There is sometimes an extra claw on the front flippers.
- Adults weigh between 77 and 100 pounds.
- Olive ridley's have powerful jaws that allow for an omnivore diet of crustaceans (such as shrimp & crabs), mollusks, tunicates, fish, crabs, and shrimp.
- Adults measure 2 to 2.5 feet.
- They are generally found in coastal bays and estuaries, but can be very oceanic over some parts of its range.
Why Are They Endangered
Hatchlings are preyed upon as they travel across the beach to the water by vultures, frigate birds, crabs, raccoons, coyotes, iguanas, and snakes. In the water, hatchling predators most likely include oceanic fishes, sharks, and crocodiles. Adults have relatively few known predators, other than sharks, and killer whales are responsible for occasional attacks. Females are often plagued by mosquitos during nesting. Other major threats include mortality associated with boat collisions, and incidental takes in fisheries.
What People Can do to Prevent This Problem
People definitely can not control this problem but animals eat the little hatchling's on their way to the sea all the time. When people are driving boats, they need to be very aware of what's surrounding them while they are driving because they run into these turtles all the time which kills them immediately. Boat drivers also need to make sure that when they are driving they aren't in an area that have a lot of turtles so they don't kill them.