![hawksbill seaturtle hawksbill seaturtle](https://render.fineartamerica.com/images/rendered/medium/throw-pillow/images/artworkimages/medium/1/hawksbill-sea-turtle-in-mid-water-karen-doody.jpg)
They consider the hawksbill to be one of four celestial guardian animals according to legend, protecting people from evil spirits. From 2000 to 2008, China was the main market for 98% of these turtles. In 1977, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) declared the hawksbill sea turtle trade illegal, but it’s still ongoing. But three-fourths of hawksbill trade occurred from 1970 – 1985, and in the last 100 years, 90% of its entire population was decimated.
![hawksbill seaturtle hawksbill seaturtle](https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/2/hawksbill-sea-turtle-tamera-mcpherson.jpg)
Its shell is in great demand by illegal poachers, which is used to make various items that tourists purchase, unaware that it is illegal to do so.įrom the time of ancient Rome, the hawksbill’s shell was used to make combs and rings. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature IUCN ranks the hawksbill as Critically Endangered, meaning it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. Its sharp beaks allow it to reach deep into cracks and crevices to extract sponges from corals. It also eats corals, crustaceans, jellyfish, marine algae, mollusks, plants, sea anemones, sea urchins, small fish, and tunicates. The hawksbill sea turtle is the only sea turtle that can survive mainly on sea sponges, its favorite food. Additionally, scales overlap the shell, giving it a serrated appearance on the margins at its bottom. It has no teeth, but its powerful jaw and beak, in tandem, smash, munch, and shred food.Īnother thing unique to hawksbills is their distinctly beautiful shells, randomly spotted and streaked with hues of amber, black, brown, gold, orange, red, and yellow. This allows it to reach difficult crevices and cracks to eat its favorite food, sponges. Unlike all other sea turtles, its mouth is shaped like a hawk’s beak. Hawksbill sea turtles are found along shorelines of over 108 countries. And every five years, an adult female hawksbill will return to the same shore where she was born, to lay her own eggs. At each new “home” it will have the same resting spot at the end of its day. Its journey unfolds in developmental stages. It is a water nomad, circumtropical, traveling over 1,000 miles in oceans to find its next dwelling and the next dwelling after that. That’s how a hawksbill sea turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) is born. You crawl towards the light, knowing that it leads to the shore. This means turning your back to the darkest part around you and following the brightest light on the horizon. Morning is breaking, and you see some 200 others just like you, all making their way to the waters.Īs a hawksbill sea turtle hatchling, you must find the sea. You’re in that egg for two months, incubated by the warm sand until one day, you hatch.
![hawksbill seaturtle hawksbill seaturtle](https://www.whozoo.org/Intro2001/talcala/SeaTurtlegood062101fwz25.jpg)
Imagine yourself living inside an egg that is buried under the loam. By protecting the web of life, we build a kinder world for everyone. As of now, there are 3,900 tigers in the wild globally, and more than twice as many (8,000) in captivity. A tiger in the wild indicates that the forest it inhabits is healthy and diverse. But only 10 vaquitas are left and in their absence, the diet of sharks and whales may change. The vaquitas are preyed upon by large sharks and killer whales, keeping them away from us. Pygmy tarsiers eat and host bugs that we’ve seen at home - insects, spiders, lizards, bedbugs, lice, fleas, roundworms, and tapeworms. We must safeguard the web of life and care about the other living species that we share this planet with.