Xiang Yang shook his head. "The hawksbill turtle is now on the verge of extinction and has long been listed as a national protected animal."
Chen Qingsheng looked around in disbelief, "Is this the kind of creature that's everywhere? Is it an endangered species?"
"Is this a lot? Not at all. Although it seems that there are many hawksbill turtles living around here, in fact, this sea area may be the largest gathering place of these hawksbill turtles. If you scatter these hawksbill turtles throughout the ocean, do you think this is still a lot?" Xiang Yang asked.
Chen Qingsheng nodded thoughtfully, "Well, if you count it this way, it's really not much."
Xiang Yang continued to look at those hawksbill turtles.
In fact, Xiang Yang was not exaggerating when he said that these hawksbill turtles are on the verge of extinction.
First of all, the reproduction method of hawksbill turtles is actually extremely difficult.
The spawning season of hawksbill turtles is generally from April to April. During spawning, the female comes ashore during the day and digs holes on the coastal sand to lay eggs. The diameter of the holes is about 0 cm and the depth is about 0 cm. Eggs are laid three times in one spawning season, with 10-00 eggs laid each time.
Hawksbill turtle eggs are oval, white, and have soft, elastic shells.
The diameter of hawksbill turtle eggs is about 0.5 cm, and the incubation time is long, taking more than two months for the young to hatch.
The carapace of the newly hatched turtle is not completely hard, but it is already arranged in a shingle-like manner. The neck of the turtle can stretch and retract freely, but cannot turn forward, backward, left or right.
The baby turtles at this time are actually extremely dangerous.
The current racial situation of the hawksbill turtle is very bad.
Analysis of published and unpublished reports indicates that all major marine subpopulations have declined significantly over the past three generations due to overexploitation of nesting beaches, degradation of nesting habitats, and survival rates of larvae and adults.
In response to incidental mortality associated with marine fisheries and degradation of marine habitats in previously prime hawksbills’ foraging areas, analysis of subpopulation changes at five index sites across the global distribution revealed that the number of hatchlings laid by females per year has declined by 84% to 87% over the past three generations.
Many populations, especially some of the larger ones, continue to decline.
Some protected populations have stabilized or are increasing, but the species' overall decline over three generations is more than 80 percent.
People have long believed that sea turtle species such as hawksbill turtles are not threatened with extinction because they have a long lifespan, grow slowly, have a long reproductive period, mature late, and have a high reproduction rate. In addition, there are many age groups in the hawksbill turtle population, and a sharp decline in the number in a short period of time is not easy to detect.
But in fact, although the reproduction rate of hawksbill turtles is high, like most sea turtles, the survival rate of hatchlings is quite low.
Many adult sea turtles are killed intentionally or unintentionally by humans, and sea turtle nests are also occupied by humans and animals.
Small mammals will raid hawksbill nests, dig out the eggs and eat them.
In the U.S. Virgin Islands, sea turtle nests, including hawksbill and leatherback turtles, are attacked by mongooses just after the eggs are laid.
Hawksbill turtle nests are also attacked by magpies, sand crabs, jackals, and even livestock.
Hawksbill turtles near Tobago Island Historically, the hawksbill turtle was listed as an endangered species by the IUCN in 198. This status was maintained in several subsequent evaluations in 1986, 1988, 1990 and 1994, and since 1996, the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species has upgraded the conservation status of the hawksbill turtle to critically endangered.
There was opposition when the hawksbill turtle was listed as an endangered species. Two petition reports claimed that the hawksbill turtle and other species have multiple important stable populations around the world. However, the IUCN rejected these petitions based on the data analysis submitted by the Marine Turtle Specialist Group.
Data provided by the Marine Turtle Specialist Group indicate that the Hawksbill turtle population has declined by more than 80% over the past three generations, while the number of mature female turtles nesting and laying eggs each year has decreased by 84-87%, and there was no significant population increase since 1996.
Moreover, these data cannot take into account the young turtles drifting in the ocean to find food, so the data obtained greatly underestimates the population decline. Therefore, based on these data, the IUCN classifies the hawksbill turtle as CR A1, but not CR A, because the IUCN believes that there is not enough data to show that the population of hawksbill turtles will further decrease by 80% or more in the future.
In the late 20th century, governments around the world made more and more efforts to protect hawksbills, such as implementing temporary or permanent laws and regulations and establishing sea turtle nature reserves. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has listed hawksbills as an endangered species since 1970, and the United States has implemented several recovery plans in appropriate locations to protect local hawksbills.
Hawksbill turtles have also been included in the national second-level key protected wild animal list in my country. In many places, there is even the Huidong Port Turtle Nature Reserve to protect hawksbill turtles, green turtles and other turtles and other species.
Although it is illegal to kill hawksbill turtles, many people still fish for them around the world.
Hawksbill turtles are still eaten as a delicacy in some areas.
Especially in our country, as early as the 5th century BC, hawksbill turtles and other sea turtles were regarded as delicacies by the Chinese people. This consciousness, which has been deeply rooted in the bones for hundreds of years, is difficult to change in a short period of time.
Even today, some people still believe that eating turtle meat can prolong life.
Some people like to collect hawksbill turtle shells as collectibles.
For example, in our country, many literati like to put a tortoise shell in their study.
This is related to our country's traditional culture.
Hawksbill turtle is one of the images in Chinese classical poetry.
For example, the wonderful descriptions of Liu Lanzhi's appearance in the Han Dynasty folk songs "The Peacock Flies Southeast" and "Ancient Poems Written for the Wife of Jiao Zhongqing" tell the scene of farewell: she is wearing silk shoes and a tortoise shell hairpin on her head. Fan Qin's "Love Poem" also mentioned how to comfort separation, with a tortoise shell hairpin behind the ear. "Hairpin" is a homophone for "chai", which means separation.
Even the great poet Li Bai once wrote, "I often dislike the loneliness of the tortoise turtle."
In countless poems, tortoise shell banquets are often used to describe the exquisiteness and luxury of banquets.
Xiang Yang didn't think there was anything wrong with this beautiful image.
The shells of hawksbill turtles are indeed very beautiful.
But because of his own selfishness, Xiang Yang wanted to monopolize this beauty and wantonly killed the already small number of hawksbill turtles. He felt that this was very wrong.
Xiang Yang felt that if this generation did not protect marine creatures like these, which were extremely rare, and allow them to recuperate, the final result would be that creatures like the hawksbill turtle would completely disappear in this dark blue sea and would only exist in beautiful poems.
"If you want to take photos, hurry up, but be careful not to hurt these hawksbill turtles." Xiang Yang said to everyone.
In this gathering place of hawksbills, in addition to adult hawksbills, there are also some small hawksbills that are smaller than the palm of your hand. If you are not careful and get stepped on by someone, you will definitely die. (To be continued)