Saving Leatherback Sea Turtles

Dear Earthwatcher, 

The average life expectancy for a child born today is 66 years.

Unless we work together, leatherback sea turtles will be extinct in the Pacific Ocean by that child’s 15th birthday.

It’s hard to understand: An animal that’s flourished for 65 million years could be wiped out in a human lifetime.

The Pacific leatherback population declined more than 95% in the past two decades. Worldwide, the species is “Critically Endangered”—next comes “Extinct in the Wild.”

It’s easy to lose hope: Despite being able to dive ¾ of a mile and swim for thousands of miles feeding on jellyfish, leatherbacks are easily poached and often get tangled in fishing long lines. Hatchlings get fatally confused by coastal developments’ lights, nesting beaches erode, and adults at sea swallow drifting plastics and starve to death.

Leatherbacks seem ill-equipped to survive in a crowded world. And we still know so little about them—how far they travel, how fast they grow, how females migrate back to nesting beaches—that it’s easy to think there’s nothing we can do to help.

But you can do something: For nearly 20 years, Dr. Frank Paladino and his colleagues have shown us the way to save turtles, keeping the species alive in the Pacific.

As a volunteer on Costa Rican Sea Turtles, you’ll monitor female leatherbacks on their most important nesting beaches, protect eggs and hatchlings, and attach tracking devices to help save these endangered creatures. And while you might join to change the turtles’ fate, be ready for the experience to change your life, too.

We can't stop now: Sign up to help the Costa Rican Sea Turtles by September 30th, and lock in the cost of your contribution before 2009 increases go into effect.

Visit our website to learn more or call us toll-free at 1-800-776-0188.

Best wishes,

James Fry
Director of Volunteer Outreach
Earthwatch Institute

P.S. You can also make a difference for the turtles right now. Support Earthwatch and Dr. Paladino's work with a generous donation, become an Earthwatch member, or set up an Expedition Fund today.

“This experience had a deep impact on me on many levels.  I am grateful to have been allowed to participate in a scientific expedition of this importance.”—Maria Isabel Crisostomo, Costa Rican Sea Turtles volunteer

Watch the turtles Dr. Paladino is trying to save as he explains why they're endangered.