Скачать или смотреть World's Largest Sea Turtle is in Danger| Leatherback sea turtle| Andaman & Nicobar islands

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• Proposals for tourism and port development in the Andaman and Nicobar (A&N) Islands have conservationists worried over the fate of some of the most important nesting populations of the Giant Leatherback turtle in this part of the Indian Ocean.
• The leatherback sea turtle is the largest of all living turtles and is the fourth-heaviest modern reptile.
• It is the only living species in the genus Dermochelys.
• Leatherback turtles have the most hydrodynamic body design of any sea turtle, with a large, teardrop-shaped body.
• The leatherback has several characteristics that distinguish it from other sea turtles. Its most notable feature is the lack of a bony carapace.
• Instead of shell, it has thick, leathery skin with embedded minuscule osteoderms.
• Leatherbacks are found in all oceans except the Arctic and the Antarctic.
• Within the Indian Ocean, they nest only in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• Surveys conducted in the A&N Islands over the past three decades have shown that the populations here could be among the most important colonies of the Leatherback globally.
• There is concern now, however, that at least three key nesting beaches — two on Little Andaman Island and one on Great Nicobar Island — are under threat due to mega “development” plans announced in recent months.
• These includes construction of ports, jetties, resorts and industries, as major threats to turtle populations.