What is is the rarest of all sea turtles?
The Kemps ridley turtle is the rarest of all sea turtles. It weighs between 80-100 pounds and the mature adult is an olive green color. They nest in large numbers known as “arribadas.” The ridleys have declined significantly in recent years due mainly to predation and poaching and the fact that their nesting areas have dwindled to a single beach near Rancho Nuevo, Mexico. In 1947, 40,000 ridleys nested and in 1981 the number was reduced to less than 500. Ridley turtles dwell in the waters of the North Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. On rare occasions, ocean currents have swept ridleys as far as Europe.
