THE AMAZING LEATHERBACK SEA TURTLE

The First Sea Turtle: The Ancient World

Although humans look around at the world and imagine that the big mountains and long rivers we see today have always been there, nothing could be farther from the truth.

For example, today's mighty Himalayan Mountains were not so mighty when these turtles first entered the oceans. Indeed, the Himalayas were still 65,000,000 years away from even existing.

Australia was connected to Antarctica when the first leatherbacks took to the sea and would not uncouple from it for about thirty million more generations of leatherback sea turtles.

South America remained alongside West Antarctica which was temperate. Another eighty million years would go by before Antarctica would turn into the frigid continent we see.

The South Atlantic Ocean was still forming. Indeed, not only were there no Seven Seas way back then, there were only two spectacular supercontinents, not the seven continents of today.

And, the South Pole? Where was it that long ago? Hint: look at the graphic: "X" marks the spot.

Yep. There it is. In Africa!!!

This ancient time spawned these ancient leatherbacks.

When the forebears of today’s leatherback sea turtles evolved into sea dwellers, there were no birds in the sky, no lions, tigers, or buffaloes because there were no birds or mammals at all on earth.

For that matter, the first dinosaur would not leave its footprint until millions of years in the future.

The ferocious Tyrannosaurus Rex would not terrorize the planet for about four hundred thousand centuries more. Yes, that is right: 400,000 centuries.

Maybe you know that dolphins and whales originated from land animals and went to sea long ago.

Very impressive! Except to a leatherback sea turtle. Why?

Because leatherbacks were swimming the world’s oceans for more than fifty million years before those mighty creatures---which are closely related to hippopotami---evolved, left the land, and entered the oceans, too.

But, it is not their species longevity---amazing as that is---that warrants the title of most amazing animal on earth.

Consider this: the world marveled, and deservedly so, at Michael Phelps’ unbelievable speed when he set a world record in the 200 meter freestyle swim event in Beijing.

But, as fast as he covered that length, a huge leatherback, weighing about as much as the entire offensive line of a professional football team, would swim to the thousand meter mark---more than a third of a mile farther than Michael.

In fact, this sea turtle is listed in the 1992 Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest reptile on earth!

It might be fairer to our species if the world's fastest human sprinter competed against a swimming leatherback.

The turtle and man would be almost even at the hundred meter mark, and the human might nose out a victory.

But, the swimming leatherback would blow away the human being at 400 meters.

One giant leatherback sea turtle was tracked migrating 13,000 miles---and that was only one way!

For perspective, today’s nuclear attack submarines are allowed to operate in a maximum normal operating depth of about 1,600 feet because sea pressure at 2,400 feet could crush them. Man’s best technology and strongest metal and composite materials are no match for the diving ability of this ancient reptile.

The leatherback sea turtle is found not only in all tropical and subtropical waters on earth but has been seen as far north as the Arctic Circle, in Alaska, near Quebec, and Norway, and as far south as the Cape of Good Hope and even below New Zealand, in waters as cold as 40°F. Yet, even though they are, like all reptiles, cold blooded, they remain toasty warm because they can maintain a body temperature as much as 32°F (18°C) higher than the surrounding water.

Sadly, in just three decades, man’s rapacious greed and carelessness have decimated the numbers of this magnificent creature. Between 1980 and 2005, it is estimated that the leatherback population in Mexico declined 99% , a catastrophe for this species since that country had about two thirds of the world’s total leatherbacks.

Mexico should not be singled out because, all across the globe, marine turtle populations were collapsing.

For example, just a few years ago Malaysia had the world's largest population of leatherbacks nests: 10,000. By 2008, only two leatherbacks came back to nest on these once productive beaches.

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.

Somewhere, Angels are weeping.

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