leatherback turtles
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Leptonyx
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I haven't heard of any leatherbacks in captivity other than those that are temporarily in rehabilitation, and even then they don't do great.
"Unfortunately, the turtle died during its third day in captivity and was subject to a full veterinary necropsy. At necropsy it was confirmed that she was a female and, although the exact cause of death remains unknown, it is likely that it is the result of the stress of capture and captivity, in combination with several other factors"
Apparently the leatherback tried to continually swim to the west (direction of the sea)- to the point that she was damaging herself and the staff had to start shifts to make sure she'd stop by directing her away when she got too close. I read on another sea turtle rehabilitation site that they have the same problem and leatherbacks not comprehending the concept of a wall, and really banging themselves up trying to get out
"Unfortunately, the turtle died during its third day in captivity and was subject to a full veterinary necropsy. At necropsy it was confirmed that she was a female and, although the exact cause of death remains unknown, it is likely that it is the result of the stress of capture and captivity, in combination with several other factors"
Apparently the leatherback tried to continually swim to the west (direction of the sea)- to the point that she was damaging herself and the staff had to start shifts to make sure she'd stop by directing her away when she got too close. I read on another sea turtle rehabilitation site that they have the same problem and leatherbacks not comprehending the concept of a wall, and really banging themselves up trying to get out
I remember reading in an old International Zoo Yearbook about hatchlings being kept for a while (weeks/months?) in Sri Lanka. I don't whether there has been any more success since.
This species eats jellyfish, which aren't exactly easy to provide in quantity - just imagine the amount it would take to keep a big adult weighing 3/4 of a tonne alive!
Alan
This species eats jellyfish, which aren't exactly easy to provide in quantity - just imagine the amount it would take to keep a big adult weighing 3/4 of a tonne alive!
Alan
Seen Hawksbills at Rotterdam, and ZootierlisteHomepage lists them at La Rochelle (france) and Stralsund (germany)
Ridley's, nope never heared nor seen one in captivity...
Ridley's, nope never heared nor seen one in captivity...
I've seen hawksbills at Kula in Fiji, and they had/have them at Napier Aquarium (NZ). Kelly Tarlton's (NZ) has a hawksbill at the moment.
At the KL aquarium (Malaysia) in 2006 there were baby turtles of several species including hawksbills and ridleys.
At the KL aquarium (Malaysia) in 2006 there were baby turtles of several species including hawksbills and ridleys.
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Thanks Chlidnoias and jwer!The National Sealife Centre Centre , Birmingham UK , has , as its 2008 attraction , a 'Turtle Sanctuary .' I quote from the leaflet - ' Visit our brand new refuge for endangered and threatened turtles and see what's popped out lately in our special turtle hatchery . ' The illustration has a cartoon of a sea turtle but pictures of freshwater species that we often call terrapins in the UK . Their cartoon style map shows 4 pools of what look like baby sea turtles but I suspect that does not mean a lot - artistic licence ?
Has anybody visited and can clarify matters on this exhibit ?
Has anybody visited and can clarify matters on this exhibit ?
The National Sea Life Centre in Birmingham has two adult green turtles in its ocean tank. They came from Blackpool via Brighton Sea Life Centre. Their new turtle hatchery is for "endangered freshwater turtles" but I don't know what species are held (or what they're doing in a marine aquarium 
).
Brighton Sea Life Centre has a pair of loggerhead turtles, the female was rescued from a beach on Jersey. Loggerheads are the species which most frequently wash up on British beaches so coastal aquaria often rehabilitate and release them. The National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth also has a loggerhead.
I have also seen hawksbill turtles in Beijing Aquarium.
From some quick internet searches, I've found evidence that The Aquarium of the Pacific keeps olive ridley turtles. Also, the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center keeps Kemp's ridley turtles - they are thought to be the rarest species.
).Brighton Sea Life Centre has a pair of loggerhead turtles, the female was rescued from a beach on Jersey. Loggerheads are the species which most frequently wash up on British beaches so coastal aquaria often rehabilitate and release them. The National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth also has a loggerhead.
I have also seen hawksbill turtles in Beijing Aquarium.
From some quick internet searches, I've found evidence that The Aquarium of the Pacific keeps olive ridley turtles. Also, the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center keeps Kemp's ridley turtles - they are thought to be the rarest species.
Back to the subject of Leatherbacks, Those in Sri Lanka were kept, from hatching, for over a year at which point they had reached about 2 feet in length. This is recounted in Craig Philips' book "Captive Sea".
Philips oversaw the Miami Seaquarium for many years and he records his own experiences with Leatherback Turtles in the same book.
It is a book worth reading as it details attempts to keep many unusual sea creatures. Published in 1964 by Frederick Muller Ltd.
Philips oversaw the Miami Seaquarium for many years and he records his own experiences with Leatherback Turtles in the same book.
It is a book worth reading as it details attempts to keep many unusual sea creatures. Published in 1964 by Frederick Muller Ltd.
got this from herpdigest
6) The Turtle Trainer – Or How to Raise Leatherback Sea Turtles In Captivity
Poupular Science Posted 10.16.2008 at 3:33 pm
Word spread quickly that Todd Jones, a young doctoral candidate in zoology, had something fantastic in the blue tanks of his lab at the University of British Columbia. The attraction was juvenile leatherback sea turtles, about the size of garbage-can lids. Why the attention? Not some exclusive claim to scarcity—leatherbacks are critically endangered, but so are other species of sea turtle. Not their size—these juveniles were pikers compared with adult leatherbacks, whose noon shadow can be almost the circumference of a Volkswagen Beetle. No, it was the simple fact that they were here, alive.
Almost no one had seen a juvenile leatherback before. Between the scurry of hatchlings down the beach until their return decades later to nest, leatherbacks simply vanish into the open seas, where this species as old as the dinosaurs undertakes one of nature’s great ultramarathons, swimming thousands of miles from ocean to ocean. Because leatherbacks travel so far, anything that disturbs the balance in any marine environment anywhere—from overfishing to global warming—affects the turtles and leaves a readable print in them. “They really are the poster species for the health of the world’s oceans,” Jones says.
The trouble was, little was known about leatherbacks because nobody had been able to raise them in captivity. Enter Jones, a Florida native whose background in both animal physiology and conservation issues provided a useful nexus of expertise and perspective. To simulate the turtle’s natural diet of huge quantities of jellyfish, for example, he created a substitute he called “squid Jell-O,” which was hand-fed to the leatherbacks.
A signal, poetic trait of leatherbacks is that “they can’t comprehend barriers,” Jones says. Their universe is uncontained. Put them in a tank, and they will ram the wall repeatedly until they die. So Jones invented a Jolly Jumper–like harness made of rubber tubing that suspended the leatherbacks in the middle of the tank, free to swim and dive but touching nothing. The turtles accepted the illusion that they were in the open sea. “People ask me, ‘When did they get used to the tank and stop swimming?’ ” Jones says, “and the answer is: never.” For three years they swam on, those big flippers churning slow figure eights. Jones and his research partners were the first to uncover how much food leatherbacks must consume, how quickly they grow, and when they reach sexual maturity. Because until we understand how the leatherback lives, we won’t be able to stop what’s killing it.
6) The Turtle Trainer – Or How to Raise Leatherback Sea Turtles In Captivity
Poupular Science Posted 10.16.2008 at 3:33 pm
Word spread quickly that Todd Jones, a young doctoral candidate in zoology, had something fantastic in the blue tanks of his lab at the University of British Columbia. The attraction was juvenile leatherback sea turtles, about the size of garbage-can lids. Why the attention? Not some exclusive claim to scarcity—leatherbacks are critically endangered, but so are other species of sea turtle. Not their size—these juveniles were pikers compared with adult leatherbacks, whose noon shadow can be almost the circumference of a Volkswagen Beetle. No, it was the simple fact that they were here, alive.
Almost no one had seen a juvenile leatherback before. Between the scurry of hatchlings down the beach until their return decades later to nest, leatherbacks simply vanish into the open seas, where this species as old as the dinosaurs undertakes one of nature’s great ultramarathons, swimming thousands of miles from ocean to ocean. Because leatherbacks travel so far, anything that disturbs the balance in any marine environment anywhere—from overfishing to global warming—affects the turtles and leaves a readable print in them. “They really are the poster species for the health of the world’s oceans,” Jones says.
The trouble was, little was known about leatherbacks because nobody had been able to raise them in captivity. Enter Jones, a Florida native whose background in both animal physiology and conservation issues provided a useful nexus of expertise and perspective. To simulate the turtle’s natural diet of huge quantities of jellyfish, for example, he created a substitute he called “squid Jell-O,” which was hand-fed to the leatherbacks.
A signal, poetic trait of leatherbacks is that “they can’t comprehend barriers,” Jones says. Their universe is uncontained. Put them in a tank, and they will ram the wall repeatedly until they die. So Jones invented a Jolly Jumper–like harness made of rubber tubing that suspended the leatherbacks in the middle of the tank, free to swim and dive but touching nothing. The turtles accepted the illusion that they were in the open sea. “People ask me, ‘When did they get used to the tank and stop swimming?’ ” Jones says, “and the answer is: never.” For three years they swam on, those big flippers churning slow figure eights. Jones and his research partners were the first to uncover how much food leatherbacks must consume, how quickly they grow, and when they reach sexual maturity. Because until we understand how the leatherback lives, we won’t be able to stop what’s killing it.
The now-defunct Underwater World of Singapore harboured Olive Ridleys and Hawksbills in their mixed-species marine pond.
Okinawa Churaumi also possess both species in a very blendly-scaped mixed-species tank too.