TROPICAL TURTLES 5-4-10

Tanks of the Tropics

Skeletal anatomy of a turtle

The carapace is composed of ossification between ribs

Cryptodires (l) pull their heads in straight; pleurodires (r) pull their sideways

Cross-section of a cryptodire

Mata mata, an Amazonian cryptic suction feeder.

Chelodina longicollis, Australia

Chelodina neck

Tropical Mud Turtle, Kinosternon leucostoma.

Kinosternon scorpiodes, Belize. Note the three dorsal ridges.

Staurotypus shells, a Central American kinosternid turtle.

Rhinoclemys areolata, a turtle that likes the land

Red-earred Turtle, Trachemys scripta, in Belize.

Sliders, Trachemys scripta, used as percussion instruments by the Garifuna.

Matt Hollis 2008

Hawksbill Turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata.

Kemp’s Ridley Turtle, Lepidochelys kempi: highly endangered.

Kemp’s Ridley Turtle tracks for nesting (l), and Loggerhead Turtle hatchling tracks (r).

Movement of a Kemp’s Ridley Turtle.

Loggerhead migration route

Green Turtle, Chelonia mydas, in the Galápagos.

Mardi Gras sea turtle

Leatherback Turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, digging her nest.

Leatherback Turtle laying eggs.

Dr. Bob and Leatherback Turtles.

Aimée and a nesting Leatherback.

Leatherback Turtle hatchlings. Upper is just hatched and alive; others were dead (hatched out in daylight and were killed by Black vultures). Matura Beach, Trinidad.

Remains of nests are common. When shells are scattered about, it is the result of predation. Normally hatching nests have the shells underground.

It is not uncommon for sea turtles to have a bite taken out of a flipper.

Turtle Excluder Device (TED) in the shrimper’s net.

Rancho Nuevo, Mexico, project to protect Kemp’s Ridley Turtle nests.

Results of Mexican fishers efficiency.

Leatherback Turtle mouth and pharynx showing spikes that aid in capture the preferred prey, jellyfish.

Tabloid turtles

Galápagos Tortoise, Geochelone elephantophis, on Santa Cruz.

Galápagos Tortoise with a “high shell,” presumably evolved to allow the head to stretch high to eat high cactus pads on Barrington Island.

Dr. Bob and a Galápagos Tortoise.

CLOACA