Test Your Turtle IQ

1. What is the current conservation status of Hawksbill sea turtles?

2. Hawksbills have been hunted and poached for 2,500 years for their:

a. Meat

b. Eggs

c. Shells

d. All of the above

3. To a hungry sea turtle, a floating plastic bag looks like a _______________?

4. How much has the global Hawksbill population decreased in the past 100 years?

a. 50%

b. 75%

c. 90%

5. Hawksbills are so named because they:

a. Were related to birds way back in the evolutionary chain

b. Have pointy beaks for feeding, much like birds of prey

c. Have remarkable eyesight, just like hawks

6. Though its sale has been illegal since the 1990s, Hawksbill tortoiseshell is still used to make:

a. Eyeglasses

b. Jewelry

c. Combs and brushes

d. Souvenir‎

e. All of the above

7. Eating Hawksbill meat can kill you—True or False?

8. At birth, a baby Hawksbill’s odds of survival to maturity are roughly the same as the odds of:

a. Being born with 11 fingers or toes

b. Being struck by lightning

c. Being injured by a toilet

9. True or False? Hawksbills may have been around since the dinosaurs, but like them, they are doomed to go extinct.

1. Critically endangered

2. d

3. Jellyfish or squid, two of their favorite foods

4. c

5. b

6. e

7. True—their flesh can be full of toxins dangerous to humans, due to their consumption of sea sponges

8. a (one or two out of 1,000)

9. False