Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle (Tortuga Lora)
Lepidochelys kempii
Family: Cheloniidae
Status: Endangered
The Kemp's Ridley is the smallest of the eight species of sea turtles. Nesting females range from 75-100 pounds. This species is gray black as a hatchling and bad tempered.
The Kemp's Ridley or Lepidochelys kempii so to speak is dangerously endangered. These fragile creatures have become endangered because people poach them and use their meat as a delicacy in some places and their carcass or outer shell is used to make exotic items of luxury, But the main reason is that the beaches that these sea turtles go to lay eggs on are being trampled or dug up by dogs from local citizens. The Beaches these sea turtles are known to reproduce on are mainly in Mexico and these are coasts of Tamaulipas and Veracruz and several small sections off the coast of Costa Rica.
Their eating habits are: mollusks, shrimp, fish, sea stars practically anything that they can crush with they're beaks because they're beaks are pointed ands sharp so they may crush the shells of the mollusks they consume also as well as crabs and or dead shrimp. The breeding habitats of this species of turtle usually reproduce around two or three times per season. Gale force winds usually precede nesting aggregations which are called "arribadas" in Spanish. In 1947, a film revealed approximately 40,000 turtles in a single "arribada".Nesting season begins about the second week in April and is usually complete by the end of July, though some turtles may nest as late as August. Today, anything over 60 turtles is called an "arribada".
