Dead Giant Leatherback Sea Turtle Washed Ashore on Whale Beach Days After Another Was Saved From Being Entangled in a Shark Net

A giant turtled was discovered dead on a beach in Australia. The wildlife officials are still unsure about the cause of death.

Giant Sea Turtle Found Dead on Australian Beach

On March 5, the Australian Registry of Wildlife Health, a research program at Taronga Zoo, discovered a massive leatherback sea turtle washed ashore on Whale Beach in the north of Sydney, Australia.

They will perform a necropsy of the turtle's remains to determine the cause of death. However, since the body had already decomposed, according to the National Parks and Wildlife Service spokesperson, the post-mortem may take several weeks to complete, ABC reported.

The Australian Museum is working to recover the "incredibly valuable" skeleton from the specimen to add to its collection.

The discovery of the dead turtle came just days after another leatherback turtle was saved from a shark net. It was released back into the ocean Friday.

According to the National Parks and Wildlife Service spokesperson, the dead leatherback turtle was different because the one freed last week had been microchipped by the Department of Primary Industries off Killcare Beach on the Central Coast. An initial scan was done, and they found no microchip in the carcass.

According to Newsweek, it wasn't the first time a leatherback sea turtle was found dead near Sydney. The New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife reported six leatherbacks washed up dead on the beaches of the Central coast in quick succession last year.

The populations of leatherback sea turtles have been declining in the past decades. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) estimated a drop y 40% over the past three generations.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species have categorized them as "endangered" locally in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean and "critically endangered" in the Southwest Atlantic Ocean, Southwest Indian Ocean, West Pacific Ocean, and East Pacific Ocean subpopulations.

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What Are Leatherback Sea Turtles?

Leatherback turtles earned the name because of their shell, which is leather-like instead of hard shell, just like most turtles. They are the largest sea turtle species and one of the most migratory, crossing both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, WWF reported.

They could grow up to nearly six feet long and weigh 1,100 pounds. These marine turtles have been representing a group of reptiles that existed on Earth and have traveled the seas for the last 100 million years.

They consume large numbers of jellyfish, which keeps the population of these marine organisms in check. However, these also make them prone to ingesting plastic bags floating in the oceans, which can kill them.

They also draw income for ecotourism in coastal communities, especially in Coral Triangle.

According to WWF, hundreds of thousands of turtles are accidentally caught in shrimp trawl nets, longline hooks, and fishing gillnets a year. Sea turtles must reach the surface to breathe, and many drown once caught.

Another reason for their declining population is habitat loss. Sea turtles depend on beaches for nesting. Sea level rise, uncontrolled coastal development, and other human activities have destroyed or disturbed their nesting area.