Leatherback Seaturtle: Dermochelyidae

Leatherback seaturtles have survived on Earth for at least 100 million years. They have even outlasted the great dinosaurs, yet they are now facing extinction. The number of female leatherbacks worldwide dropped from 115,000 in 1982 to fewer than 25,000 two decades later, and the turtles living in the Pacific Ocean suffered the biggest decline in numbers. Many conservation groups, as well as country governments, are worried about the future of this turtle and are trying to do away with hunting and egg collecting. They are also preserving their nesting beaches and protecting adult turtles from fishing and other activities at sea that accidentally harm the turtles.