Why is the leatherback turtle endangered?
Leatherback turtles are in peril wherever they are found. Many turtles die at sea after eating foreign materials such as plastics (which resemble floating jellyfish) and tar balls. Significant losses of adults arise from incidental drowning in fishing gear. In the southern part of their range, leatherback populations are threatened by development of nesting beaches and nest loss due to beach erosion, predation by animals and poaching of adults and eggs for human consumption.
