Turtle | Bastard

In different cultural contexts, "turtle" and "bastard" combined take on more derogatory meanings:

: For a long time, no one could find where these turtles nested, which fueled the theory that they were sterile hybrids that didn't reproduce. bastard turtle

: In 1880, it was formally named Lepidochelys kempii after Richard Kemp, who sent the first specimens to Harvard for study. In different cultural contexts

: The olive ridley ( Lepidochelys olivacea ) is also sometimes referred to as a "bastard turtle" in other languages, such as the German Oliv-Bastardschildkröte . Cultural Slurs and Meanings the nickname persisted for decades.

While it is now recognized as its own distinct and critically endangered species, the nickname persisted for decades.