When it comes to leatherback turtles, the world's largest
species of sea turtle, there's a conundrum: The species itself
is critically endangered, but at least one leatherback
population is stable — on the rise, even — while others plummet.
Now, researchers may have discovered why some of these turtles
are doing better than others. Studying two leatherback turtle
populations, one that is declining and one that seems to be
increasing, the researchers say the answer might be simple:
food. "We saw very big differences in their traveling speeds
from their nesting beaches to their foraging grounds," said
Helen Bailey, an ecologist at the University of Maryland Center
for Environmental Science who led the study. "We take that to
mean one population is stopping to forage on a nice dense patch
of prey, while the other group keeps moving because it's
constantly in search of food." These differences in swimming and
eating habits may hold important clues for helping leatherback
turtles around the world recover and thriv