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Description
POV: You're on a beach on the Atlantic coast of French Guiana (a South American country) on a night between March and July with a flashlight in your hand. At around this time of year many female leatherback sea turtles come ashore at night around this this time of year to lay their eggs on this beach. You approach one of the giant reptiles dragging itself across the sand, its powerful flippers pulling its body slowly over the ground. This female has just finished laying her eggs in a hole on this beach and is now returning to sea. You shine your flashlight at it to get a better look and get close enough to see it has many small white spots on its body. But out of the corner of your eye, you notice there is something else here. Two spots of light are glowing not too far back, which you recognize to be the shining from an animal's eyes. That's when you realize there is a jaguar watching this turtle, and it probably came from the nearby rainforest to hunt. Its intentions are probably on the turtle but still, you are dangerously close to it. By the way you are unarmed.

Drawing made for this Animal of the Month event (www.deviantart.com/moonymina/j… ) from the Wildlife--Awareness group (www.deviantart.com/wildlife--a… ). I was inspired to draw this after learning that there are known cases of jaguars going on to beaches to hunt nesting sea turtles of various species, including even the gigantic leatherback. Such cases of jaguars killing sea turtles are usually reported from the Atlantic and Caribbean coasts, but have also been sighted on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.

The leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) is a large marine turtle found in temperate and tropical waters across the world's oceans, and due to its metabolism almost like that of a warm-blooded animal it can even occasionally be seen within the Arctic Circle. While they tend to live in colder waters where their main prey if jellyfish are abundant, the main nesting sites of the species are beaches in tropical areas. On certain nights, large numbers of females will arrive to lay their eggs in the sand, the darkness lowering the risk of predation and heat stroke. The leatherback is one of the largest extant reptiles, growing 1.5 to over 2 meters long and weighing 250 to 700 kilograms, and despite its size is also the fastest known extant reptile and can swim over 35 km/h (though typically they go slower at 2 to 10 km/h). But on land, they are slow and can barely drag themselves around, leaving them more vulnerable to terrestrial predators. Their large size means not much can hunt them, but in Central and South America jaguars have been known to prey on nesting females.

The jaguar (Panthera onca) is one of the largest extant carnivorans in the New World and grows 1.2 to 1.8 meters long. This big cat preys on a wide variety of animals ranging from fish and caiman to tapirs and livestock, and typically inhabits rainforests and wetlands in Central and South America (though a few individuals have been sighted in parts of the USA). The jaguar has an exceptionally strong bite and often kills its prey by biting right through the skull, and can even bite through the shells of turtles and armadillos. The nesting beaches of sea turtles are often near the edges of rainforests, including ones where jaguars live. Given that the leatherback doesn't actually have a true shell like other turtles and instead has thick leathery skin in its place, i can damn well see how a jaguar will bite through one. Leatherbacks are still quite large and not the usual prey of jaguars, but when hundreds of them arrive on the beach that can barely move on land to save their lives, that's quite an opportunity the felids don't intend to miss and they will head down to the coast for this.

Unfortunately both creatures shown here are under threat. The jaguar is mainly threatened from habitat loss and poaching for its skin. Leatherback turtles face quite a few threats like being accidentally caught in fishing nets, light pollution and that they often ingest plastic bags while mistaken them for jelly fish. While leatherbacks are still listed as "vulnerable" by the IUCN they seem to be recovering a bit. I swear I once saw sources say it was listed as "critically endangered" instead but I guess they are doing better now or I am going crazy.

By the way it sorta annoys me when people who don't seem to know what "POV" means use the term incorrectly.

Description
POV: You're on a beach on the Atlantic coast of French Guiana (a South American country) on a night between March and July with a flashlight in your hand. At around this time of year many female leatherback sea turtles come ashore at night around this this time of year to lay their eggs on this beach. You approach one of the giant reptiles dragging itself across the sand, its powerful flippers pulling its body slowly over the ground. This female has just finished laying her eggs in a hole on this beach and is now returning to sea. You shine your flashlight at it to get a better look and get close enough to see it has many small white spots on its body. But out of the corner of your eye, you notice there is something else here. Two spots of light are glowing not too far back, which you recognize to be the shining from an animal's eyes. That's when you realize there is a jaguar watching this turtle, and it probably came from the nearby rainforest to hunt. Its intentions are probably on the turtle but still, you are dangerously close to it. By the way you are unarmed.

Drawing made for this Animal of the Month event (www.deviantart.com/moonymina/j… ) from the Wildlife--Awareness group (www.deviantart.com/wildlife--a… ). I was inspired to draw this after learning that there are known cases of jaguars going on to beaches to hunt nesting sea turtles of various species, including even the gigantic leatherback. Such cases of jaguars killing sea turtles are usually reported from the Atlantic and Caribbean coasts, but have also been sighted on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.

The leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) is a large marine turtle found in temperate and tropical waters across the world's oceans, and due to its metabolism almost like that of a warm-blooded animal it can even occasionally be seen within the Arctic Circle. While they tend to live in colder waters where their main prey if jellyfish are abundant, the main nesting sites of the species are beaches in tropical areas. On certain nights, large numbers of females will arrive to lay their eggs in the sand, the darkness lowering the risk of predation and heat stroke. The leatherback is one of the largest extant reptiles, growing 1.5 to over 2 meters long and weighing 250 to 700 kilograms, and despite its size is also the fastest known extant reptile and can swim over 35 km/h (though typically they go slower at 2 to 10 km/h). But on land, they are slow and can barely drag themselves around, leaving them more vulnerable to terrestrial predators. Their large size means not much can hunt them, but in Central and South America jaguars have been known to prey on nesting females.

The jaguar (Panthera onca) is one of the largest extant carnivorans in the New World and grows 1.2 to 1.8 meters long. This big cat preys on a wide variety of animals ranging from fish and caiman to tapirs and livestock, and typically inhabits rainforests and wetlands in Central and South America (though a few individuals have been sighted in parts of the USA). The jaguar has an exceptionally strong bite and often kills its prey by biting right through the skull, and can even bite through the shells of turtles and armadillos. The nesting beaches of sea turtles are often near the edges of rainforests, including ones where jaguars live. Given that the leatherback doesn't actually have a true shell like other turtles and instead has thick leathery skin in its place, i can damn well see how a jaguar will bite through one. Leatherbacks are still quite large and not the usual prey of jaguars, but when hundreds of them arrive on the beach that can barely move on land to save their lives, that's quite an opportunity the felids don't intend to miss and they will head down to the coast for this.

Unfortunately both creatures shown here are under threat. The jaguar is mainly threatened from habitat loss and poaching for its skin. Leatherback turtles face quite a few threats like being accidentally caught in fishing nets, light pollution and that they often ingest plastic bags while mistaken them for jelly fish. While leatherbacks are still listed as "vulnerable" by the IUCN they seem to be recovering a bit. I swear I once saw sources say it was listed as "critically endangered" instead but I guess they are doing better now or I am going crazy.

By the way it sorta annoys me when people who don't seem to know what "POV" means use the term incorrectly.