size and form, whose function, if any, remains speculative. In 

 the eastern Pacific, where adult female leatherbacks are smaller 

 than in the Atlantic, the number of eggs is less — usually less 

 than 60 full-sized eggs per clutch, although sometimes very large 

 numbers of small, yolkless eggs may be present. 



The eggs hatch after about 65 days. Hatching success may be 

 close to 100% in an undisturbed natural nest, but on many beaches 

 a significant proportion of nests is lost to erosion, a result of 

 the high-energy beaches favored by this species, and the limited 

 ability of such heavy and cumbersome animals to travel far inland 

 to deposit their eggs. Eggs can be transferred to hatcheries, 

 but they need even more careful handling than those of other sea 

 turtle species if viability is to be maintained during the 

 transfer. 



Major threats to survival ; The products of the leatherback 

 rarely, if ever, feature in international commerce, and the 

 species as a whole may be less threatened than some of the 

 others. Nevertheless, the frequent belief that this species is 

 inedible is entirely unfounded, and intense beach-slaughter of 

 nesting females occurs in many areas, especially in Guyana, 

 Trinidad, Colombia, and the Pacific coast of Mexico. Moreover, 

 even in areas where the adults are rarely killed, egg collecting 

 may be intense. This is a major threat, for example, to the 

 important nesting populations on both coasts of Costa Rica, and 

 has already decimated the population nesting on the Trengganu 

 coast of Malaysia, once considered to be the largest population 

 in the world by far. On the other hand, beachfront development 

 and directed catch at sea may not be major stresses on this 

 species, the former being limited by the intense erosion 

 occurring on many coasts where leatherbacks nest, and the latter 

 limited by the enormous size and difficulty of capture of 

 leatherbacks except during their vulnerable terrestrial nesting 

 excursions. (Small leatherbacks — less than 1 m or so in length — 

 are extremely rarely encountered. Possibly leatherbacks pass 

 through such growth stages very rapidly, but it is still a major 

 mystery where such animals live.) 



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