On The Verge Of Extinction, The Ancient Leatherback Sea Turtle May Be The Most Amazing Animal On Earth

By: Victor Krumm Click author's name for more of his/her articles

The magnificent leatherback turtle is unquestionably the most amazing animal on earth. Like the other remaining species of marine turtle, it left its terrestrial predecessors more than one hundred ten million years ago, developed flippers, and populated the Seven Seas---before there were Seven Seas.

The world was a very different place way back then.

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

For example, today's mighty Himalayan Mountains were not mighty at all when turtles first entered the oceans. Indeed, there would be no Himalayas for sixty five million more years.

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 these sea animals.

South America remained near West Antarctica. Another 80,000,000 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 not seven continents, either, only two supercontinents.

This ancient time spawned these ancient leatherbacks.

When the forebears of today's leatherbacks evolved into sea dwellers, there were no birds in the sky, no elephants, mastodons, mammoths, and not even a tiny mouse because there were no birds or mammals at all on earth.

The mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex would not walk the planet for about four hundred thousand centuries more. Yes, you read it correctly: 400,000 centuries.

Your biology teacher may have told you that whales and porpoises originated from land animals and went to sea long ago. Very impressive! Except to a sea turtle. Why? Because leatherbacks were swimming the world's oceans for more than fifty million years before those mighty leviathons---which are closely related to hippopotamus---evolved, left the land, and entered the sea, as well.

These are the largest of all sea turtles and can weigh nearly two thousand pounds, They were here way before the first dinosaur, survived the worst mass extinction the world has ever experienced, and flourished. But, that spectacular ability to adapt is not why they are so amazing.

Consider this: the world marveled , and properly so, at Michael Phelps' unbelievable speed when he set a world record in the 200 meter freestyle swim event in Beijing. But, in the time it took him to go that distance, a huge leatherback, weighing about as much as the entire offensive line of a professional football team, would reach the thousand meter mark---more than a third of a mile farther than Michael.

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

It might be fairer to our race if the world's fastest 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 a human at 400 meters.

Not only can this ancient being swim five times faster than the fastest human on earth, it may also hold the record as the world's greatest long-distance migrating creature. One of these giants was monitored by researchers migrating 13,000 miles---and that was only to the destination from which it needed to return.

In addition to its incredible speed and stamina, it is the deepest diving marine turtle on the planet, regularly diving some 4,000 feet deep into the ocean. For perspective, America's extraordinary nuclear submarines are allowed to dive to 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 a one hundred million year old species.

Leatherbacks are found not only in all tropical and subtropical waters on earth but have 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, although they are cold blooded reptiles, they remain nice and cozy 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, the number of leatherback sea turtles in Mexico declined 99% , a catastrophic decline since that country had about two thirds of the world's total leatherbacks.

Mexico should not be singled out because, all across the globe, leatherback populations collapsed. For example, not long ago Malaysia had the world's largest population of leatherbacks nests: 10,000. As recently as 2008, two leatherbacks nested on these once productive beaches.

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

Somewhere, Angels are weeping.

Article Source: ABC Article Directory

About The Author: Victor C. Krumm lives in sunny Costa Rica and writes the beautiful Costa Rica Vacations website. Check out the great Costa Rica Beaches