Here’s one species of turtle you don’t want to kiss. Believe me, the Leatherback Sea Turtle might look adorable and harmless, but lurking behind its cute face is a set of killer teeth, making its mouth one of the scariest in the world.. Hundreds of these jagged stalactite-like teeth called ‘papillae’ line the turtle’s mouth and esophagus, all the way down to the gut. You just have to see it to believe it.
The Leatherback is the third largest living reptile in the world, and also the largest turtle. It’s actually a pretty docile creature, with a diet mainly consisting of jellyfish. In fact, the only reason it gets so huge is because it eats an astonishingly large number of the slow-moving jellies. Sometimes, the leatherback can consume about 73 percent of its own body weight in a single day, which is about 16,000 calories and three to seven times more than it needs to survive. Talk about binge eating!
Photo: Science Based Life
So why does this jelly-eating machine need a set of killer teeth, you ask? Well, the teeth gives it an evolutionary advantage. The sharp, pointy, backward-facing papillae actually prevent the slippery jelly from escaping by floating back out of the mouth. This means that the leatherback is able to eat all kinds of jellies – right from the smallest swarms to the most massive ones like the Lion’s Mane Jelly. This turtle species also has an unusually long esophagus that extends way past its stomach and all the way to the rear. Then it loops back up to connect to the stomach. So it’s like a conveyor belt designed to catch, store and continuously process food.
Photo: pryf livejournal
When a baby leatherback first makes an appearance in the world, it is just a tiny hatchling about 3-inches long. But thanks to all the water-rich jellies it consumes in its lifetime, it can grow to an average of four to six ft. long. Now, if you’re thinking that the humungous turtle does nothing but eat and laze around all day, you’re wrong. The leatherback turtle is a migratory species, travelling over 10,000 miles a year. It needs all the energy it can get to cover such large distances. And since jellyfish aren’t exactly energy-boosting foods, the leatherback’s best bet is to stuff its face with as many jellies as it can manage in one go.
Photo: Wikipedia
Unfortunately, despite its brilliantly designed digestive system, the leatherback is unable to differentiate between jellyfish and plastic trash floating in the water that gets stuck in its huge papillae. This is becoming a huge cause of concern as the fascinating creature is facing extinction. Serious efforts are made to preserve the species and I sure do hope they succeed.
Photo: imgur
Sources: Science Based Life, Story of Size
