The Critically Endangered Leatherback Sea Turtle

Though most people have never heard of it the leatherback sea turtle probably is the most amazing animal on earth. It is one of only six remaining species of marine turtle, and long, long ago its predecessors walked the earth on four legs. About a hundred ten million years ago, its legs and feet developed into massive flippers and it began to populate the Seven Seas, before there were Seven Seas.

The world was a very different place way back then. The mighty Himalayan Mountains did not exist that long ago. Indeed, there would be no Himalayas for sixty five million more years. Antarctica was connected to Australia when the earliest leatherbacks took to the sea and would not uncouple from it for about thirty million more generations of these sea animals. South America remained near West Antarctica. Another eighty million years would go by before Antarctica would turn into the frigid continent of today. The South Atlantic Ocean was still forming. Indeed, not only were there no Seven Seas way back then, there were not seven continents, either.

They lived during the epochs dinosaurs roamed the planet. Indeed, they were on earth millions of years before the first dinosaur evolved. They were swimming the oceans 400,000 centuries before the ferocious T Rex made its debut. Yes, that is right, 400,000 centuries. This ancient race outlived the dinosaurs and even survived the greatest mass extinction the world has ever experienced.

There is another animal that once lived on land and moved to the water. It is the whale. But, porpoises and whales are Johnny-come-lately. Sea turtles had made the transition from land to sea for fifty million years before these mighty leviathans left land for the oceans.

Leatherbacks are really, really huge marine turtles weighing as much as a ton. This is not exaggerated because one, captured in Wales tipped the scales at 1,980 pounds. And, despite its size, this great creature survived the extraordinary and terrible mass extinction that brought about the destruction of the dinosaurs. For that single reason it might be considered the most amazing animal on the globe. But, there is more.

One of the most famous sporting accomplishments in history was Michael Phelps' world record freestyle win in the 2008 China Olympics. But, had he swum that race against a leatherback, the turtle would have gone 1,000 meters---800 meters farther than Phelps. This sea turtle swims so rapidly that it has made the 1992 Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest reptile on earth!

This marine speed demon is also a marathoner of epic proportions and may migrate farther than any other creature alive today. One of these turtles was tracked by turtle researchers migrating 13,000 miles.

Impressed yet? The best part is still to come. This extraordinary creature regularly does something that Man has never been able accomplish. It can dive from the surface of the ocean down 4,000 feet where pressure is about 2,000 pounds per inch. How much pressure is that? Well, imagine that you are the captain of today's strongest, best built, most modern, sophisticated, nuclear attack submarine and you dove right alongside the leatherback. At about 2,400 feet, you would have to stop because even with the most modern and strongest composite and metal structures known to Man you'd be crushed like a tin can if you went deeper. And the turtle? It would be munching on jellyfish 1,600 feet below.

There is also another amazing fact. Except where Man has destroyed them, leatherbacks swim all tropical and subtropical waters on earth. But, and this is the really amazing thing, they have been seen as far north as the Arctic Circle and below Africa's Cape of Good Hope and even New Zealand where waters are as cold as 40 degrees fahrenheit. Yet, even though they are like all reptiles, cold blooded, they stay nearly tropically warm because they can maintain a body temperature as much as 32 degrees higher than the surrounding water.

Unfortunately, in just the last three decades, one arrogant species has brought this magnificent animal to the tipping point of its very existence. It has become so rare that it is classified as critically endangered. By 2005, the Mexican population of leatherbacks had been reduced to just one percent of what it had been in 1980, a conservation catastrophe by any measure. On beaches in Malaysia that once had the world's largest leatherback nesting population, about 10,000 nests, there were only two nestings in 2008. Somewhere, the Angels weep at Man's stupidity, rapaciousness, and over exploitation and destruction.

Today, more than 100 countries and hundreds of conservation groups are fighting to stem the decline of this magnificent being but it remains to be seen if this most ancient of all creatures can survive your generation and mine.

Tiny Costa Rica is trying to do its part in preserving this most ancient of animals and has set aside national parks on both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Tortuguero is the world's largest green sea turtle preserve and Ostional Refuge has the planet's largest arribadas---mass nestings of hundreds of thousands of olive ridley turtles. Costa Rica ecotourism is playing an important role in conserving sea turtles. And, if you take a Costa Rica vacation, be sure to keep your eyes open for the leatherback.