Page 101 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #11

OURWILDWORLD

Q&A
We solve your
ba ing wildlife
mysteries.

More amazing facts at
discoverwildlife.com

This month’s panel

STUART BLACKMAN LAURIE JACKSON LIZ KALAUGHER MIKE TOMS CHRISTINA HARRISON RICHARD JONES ROBERTO ISOTTI SARAH McPHERSON
Science writer Wildlife tour leader Author of Furry Logic BTO Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Entomologist Photographer and naturalist Q&A editor

REPTILES
How did the leatherback

turtle get its name?

Reaching half a tonne in weight, the leatherback
Aturtle is a giant among reptiles – only a few
species of crocodilian are larger. It is also remarkable
for lacking the bony carapace typical of its relatives.
Its ‘shell’ is in fact a layer of tough, rubbery skin
adorned with thousands of tiny bone plates.
Its scientific name, Dermochelys coriacea,
translates as ‘leathery-skinned turtle’.
Alternative colloquial names include ‘lute
turtle’, which may derive from the seven
ridges along its back, said to evoke the
strings of a lute.
Leatherbacks are also unusual in being
specialist predators of jellyfish. Fleshy,
backward-pointing projections in the
mouth and throat help them to handle
and swallow their slippery
prey. Stuart Blackman

Aurélien Brusini/Hemis/Alamy individual was monitored swimming
The leatherback has the largest
distribution of any turtle. Though
classed as Vulnerable, the species
can be surprisingly hardy: one

through Hurricane Florence.

November 2018 BBC Wildlife 101