IS this a case of fatal attraction? Has the ancient beauty of hawksbill turtle tortoiseshell landed it in a population crisis and may prove its undoing?
Population sizes of hawksbills have “sharply declined” due to many human factors but the most profound is the harvest of its carapace scutes (bony scales) known as tortoiseshell or bekko, fuelled by the intensive shell trade on the tortoiseshell which is a luxury item used to make elegant combs and brushes, jewelry boxes and ornaments, well into the 20th century.