The Hawksbill Sea Turtle Can you save us? By: Rebecca

What Are Our Body Parts? These wonderful turtles are one type of sea turtles. They are smaller than regular turtles. Their amazing body structure has a beak-like mouth , two fantastic pair of eyes, and a wonderful patterned shell that’s brown and gold. The females weigh about 40 to 60 kilograms.[88 to 130 lbs.] They Also, have a tail which ranges around 75 to 95 cm.

Where We Live: As you can see this rarely small sea turtle lives in a lot of tropical seas. But they really live in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian seas. They also, can be found in the Persian Gulf and the Red and Mediterranean seas. They could be found from Massachusetts's south to Northern Brazil and rarely found in New York. These turtles are found in eater no deeper than sixty feet [18.3m]. When the turtles are young They’re not able to dive in deep water which means they have to live in masses of floating sea plants like sargassum. But they’re mostly found in hard bottom reefs. There are about 15,000 that nest each year.

What We Eat: One reason a Hawksbill Sea Turtle has jaws is because it needs to get food. Some of their foods are Crevices from Coral Reefs, Shrimps, Squids, and they primarily feed on Sea Sponges. Some of the things they eat have glass needles that are called “spicules”.They have a diet of glass! This Sea Turtle is very odd because it eats some things turtles might not eat but this why it’s interesting to write about what it eats. This Hawksbill Sea Turtle is eating a Sea Sponge from a coral reef. He must be enjoying himself.

What I Think And Why Their Endangered: My viewpoint is that I think the Hawksbill Sea Turtle should have a nice place on the beach were they won’t get eaten by other animals. Also, they shouldn’t have been harvested because they didn’t do anything to deserve it. They shouldn’t have used their body parts for jewelry and trinkets because there are not many left of their kind and it’s not fair to them. To me I think they shouldn’t have prized their shells because the more people wanted them the more they get sold and they that’s not fair to them to get ripped apart like a stuffed animal. Another thing is they shouldn’t have used their meat and eggs because it’s not fair to pick on them because they’re not picking on you. The Hawksbill is in need in making a nest but is having a hard time finding a place to put them.

More Information I What To Share With You: Their jaws meet to make a acute angle. Females nest every two, three, or four years. A female can produce about 750 eggs in a nesting season. Hawksbill sea turtles have been harvested internationally for very many years. The term of their shell is “toiseshell.” These baby Hawksbill Sea Turtles look like were born yesterday or today.

Bibliography: Edelman, Michael. “Eretmochelys imbricata.” Animal Diversity Web.16 March 2007 <http://animal diversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Eretmochelys- Imbricata hmtl.> “Sea turtles.” Busch Gardens Animals. 26 February 2007 <http://www.busch gardens. org/animal-info/info-books/seaturtle/ “Atlantic Hawksbill Sea Turtle Fact Sheet.” 26 February 2007 <http://www.dec.state. ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/endspec/athafs.hmtl