The Movement Patterns of Leatherback Turtles

Leatherback turtles in the Eastern Pacific Ocean spend more energy searching for prey than the leatherback turtles that inhabit the North Atlantic ocean. A team of scientists led by Helen Bailey of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science discovered that turtles in the Atlantic traveled at different speeds. When foraging, the Atlantic turtles traveled at low speeds but when in transit from one foraging ground to the next they travelled at higher speeds.

In contrast, leatherback turtles of the Eastern Pacific Ocean travelled at just one speed and spent most of their time searching for good foraging areas. This means that turtles that inhabit the Atlantic may be able to recover from population declines more easily than those that live in the Pacific.