User:Mcking24/Kemp's ridley sea turtle

Kemp's ridley sea turtle (Lepidochelys kempii), also called the Atlantic ridley sea turtle, is the rarest species of sea turtle and is the world's most endangered species of sea turtle. It is one of two living species in the genus Lepidochelys (the other one being L. olivacea, the olive ridley sea turtle). The species primarily occupies habitat around the Gulf of Mexico though their migrations into the Atlantic are being affected by rising temperatures. Kemp's ridley sea turtles are currently listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and current conservation efforts attempt to rebuild population numbers. Human activity, including but not limited to habitat destruction, climate change, and oil spills, threaten populations.

Feeding[edit]
Kemp's ridley sea turtle feeds on mollusks, crustaceans, jellyfish, fish, algae or seaweed, and sea urchins. Juveniles primarily are pelagic surface-feeders, while adults are opportunistic bottom-feeders that feed primarily on crabs. Comparing dietary habits of head-started turtles (turtles raised in captivity before release) and wild turtles found little difference in variance in feeding habits, but there is variability in feeding habits due to habitat differences and maturation of the turtles. Variation in habitat region as well as prey availability were found to alter diet composition. Regional diet compositions aid in conservation efforts through enabling predicting food sources becoming affected by major events.

Conservation[edit]
Kemp's ridley sea turtle is currently listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Egg harvesting and poaching first depleted the numbers of Kemp's ridley sea turtles, but today, major threats include habitat loss, pollution, and entanglement in shrimping nets. Some major current conservation efforts are aimed towards habitat protection, reduction of bycatch, rescue and rehabilitation, and reduction of killing.

Efforts to protect L. kempii began in 1966, when Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Biológico-Pesqueras (National Institute of Biological-Fisheries Research) sent biologists Hunberto Chávez, Martin Contreras, and Eduardo Hernondez to the coast of southern Tamaulipas, to survey and instigate conservation plans. Kemp's ridley turtle was first listed under the Endangered Species Conservation Act of 1970 on December 2, 1970, and subsequently under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. In 1977, an informal, binational, multiagency, the Kemp's Ridley Working Group, first met to develop a recovery plan. A binational recovery plan was developed in 1984, and revised in 1992. A draft public review draft of the second revision was published by National Marine Fisheries Service in March 2010. This revision includes an updated threat assessment.

One mechanism used to protect turtles from fishing nets is the turtle excluder device (TED). It is a grid of bars with an opening at the top or bottom, fitted into the neck of the shrimp trawl. It works by allowing small animals to slip through bars and get caught, while sea turtles strike the bars and are ejected through an escape hole on either the top or bottom of the device. These mechanisms designs are controlled through federal regulations to ensure proper use. There are multiple types of TED construction: oval grid, hooped, fixed angle, Super Shooter, Anthony Weedless, and flounder types. Each design is adapted to be best suited for certain conditions/uses or vary by complexity of the design.

In September 2007, Corpus Christi, Texas, wildlife officials found a record of 128 Kemp's ridley sea turtle nests on Texas beaches, including 81 on North Padre Island (Padre Island National Seashore) and four on Mustang Island. The figure was exceeded in each of the following 7 years (see graph to 2013, provisional figures for 2014 as at July, 118.). Wildlife officials released 10,594 Kemp's ridley hatchlings along the Texas coast that year.

In July 2020, five rehabilitated turtles were released back into Cape Cod with satellite tracking devices to monitor their wellbeing. A 2020 rescue mission to save 30 turtles from the freezing seas of Cape Cod was delayed by weather and technical issues, spurring a temporary rescue mission en route between Massachusetts and New Mexico. The Tennessee Aquarium offered overnight shelter and care, and the turtles were eventually released to the sea.

From 1947 to 1985, L. kempii nests experienced a sharp decline from an estimated 121,517 nests in 1947 to 702 nests in 1985 (decline of 99.4%), and have since been exponentially recovering until approximately 2011-2016, where another decline in nests occured. Nesting as of 2016 is estimated to be 9.9% of the nest estimate of 1947.