English Essay

Chasity Walker

Professor Patton

ENGL1010M24

2 Apr. 2015

Conservation Triage:

The Green Turtle Needs Help

The species need to be preserved just as desperately as the ecosystems. Conservation triage is a way to compare different endangered animal species based on multiple criteria. Green turtles and vaquitas are two endangered species that share the same habitat. Vaquitas are porpoises, based on an article by World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and the world’s most rare marine mammals (“Vaquita”). Their mating season is from April to May, and they will give birth to one calf every two years or so, according to information provided by Defenders of Wildlife (“Basics”). Green turtles are large marine reptiles and WWF explains, “… the only herbivore among the different species” (“Green”). However, according to an article by National Geographic, mating only occurs for the green turtles every 2-4 years, in shallow waters close to shore (“Green”). They will lay up to 200 soft, leathery eggs another source reports, and only “one in 100 will survive the decades-long stretch to maturity” (Hardcastle). These species both enjoy the beautiful, blue waters of the oceans. Comparing the green turtle and the vaquita by examining the likelihood of success of preservation efforts, the animals’ attractiveness as well as popularity, and the animals’ importance to the ecosystem, we realize that conservation efforts should be focused on the green turtle.

The likelihood of success of preservation efforts looks at many different aspects, such as numbers, threats, and the cost of preservation for the species. An article by World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) relays to readers that the green turtle breeding female population is estimated to be 203,000 worldwide (WWF). In comparison, the vaquita population is said to be fewer than 100 individuals (“Vaquita”). According to World Wildlife Fund, the biggest threat to the green turtle population is “the decades of egg poaching by locals, who can...