Jordyn Robinson, Folsom Elementary School
Atlantic County
First Place, Atlantic County, Atlantic Leatherback Sea Turtle (c) Jordyn Robinson
Atlantic Leatherback Turtle
I am swimming through the ocean, watching the bright yellow sun go down above the deep blue sea. The water feels cool and my stomach feels full of all the jellyfish I just ate. I am the Atlantic Leatherback Turtle! Did you know that I can dive deeper than any other turtle? I live in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. I have a hard, bony shell, rubbery skin and white blotches arranged along the back, sides and underneath my body. I have pink blotches on my neck and shoulders. I can grow to be 4 to 8 feet long and weigh 500 to 2,000 pounds. My favorite food is jellyfish, but I do eat seaweed, crabs, shrimp, snails and algae.
“Pinkie, it’s almost time to eat!”
“Okay, I’ll be there in a minute.”
We are endangered because people fish with nets. We sometimes get caught in them, then they weigh us down and we drown. That’s how my uncle Swim died. We also die because when I see a plastic bag, I eat it, thinking it is a jellyfish. That causes us to choke. That’s never good.
When I get older, I can lay around 100 eggs in each nest! I lay my eggs on sand beaches, but people step on them and animals eat them. Also, when our eggs hatch, we look for the sunlight or moonlight reflecting off the ocean. When it is dark and people have their lights on in their houses, we go the wrong way giving predators more time to eat us.
People can help me and my family by not using nets to fish and not littering in the ocean. Don’t leave your lights on during the night if you don’t need them. Also, stop building houses where we live. I need food and a habitat to survive, so help us, please!
“Pinkie, come on, it’s time to eat!”
Oh, that’s my mom calling me again. I better get going! Well, see you later!
Written by: Jordyn Robinson
Folsom Elementary School, Folsom
Teachers: Mrs. Passalaqua and Mrs. DeStefano