Common Name: Olive ridley - named from its olive green colored shell
Scientific Name: Lepidochelys olivaceaf
Description: The Olive ridley has an extremely small head. Its bony carapace has no ridges with large scales present. Its carapace looks nearly circular and smooth with 6 or more lateral scales. 1 or 2 visible claws are on both the front and rear flippers. Sometimes an extra claw is on the front flippers. Olive ridleys change colors in different periods of their life, ranging from jet black as hatchlings, to charcoal grey as juveniles, and a dark grey green as adults.
Size: The carapace of adult olive ridleys grow to a length of 62-70 cm, which is 2 to 2.5 feet.
Weight: An adult olive ridley sea turtle has a weight of 35-45 kg, which is between 77 and 100 pounds.
Diet: With powerful jaws, the olive ridley can eat any crustaceans (such as shrimp & crabs), mollusks, tunicates, and fish.
Habitat: Olive ridley sea turtles can be usually found in coastal bays and estuaries. But over some parts of its range, their habitations are very oceanic. Typically, olive ridleys can seek food either in surface waters or dive to 500 feet depths where they can get bottom dwelling crustaceans as their food.
Nesting: Olive ridleys nest in arribadas every year - 2 times each season. Arribadas (meaning "arrival" in Spanish) are mass synchronized nestings when hundreds of olive ridleys come ashore together to lay their eggs. Their clutch size is over 110 eggs on average, whose incubation period is 52 to 58 day.
Range: The olive ridley lives in the tropical and subtropical waters of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans.
Status: U.S. – Because they are nearly becoming endangered, the Olive Ridleys have been Listed as Threatened under the U.S. Federal Endangered Species Act.
International - Facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future, they are also listed as Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
Threats to Survival: The main threats to Olive ridleys are direct harvest of adults and eggs, incidental capture in commercial fisheries and loss of nesting habitat.
Population Estimate: 800,000 nesting females.