Saving Sea Turtles Extraordinary Stories from the Battle Against Extinction

About this book

In April 2007, eleven leatherback turtles captured the imagination of the public worldwide as they 'raced' from Costa Rica toward the Galapagos Islands. Known as the Great Turtle Race, this event tracked these critically endangered sea turtles, drawing attention to their fragile status and generating data on the turtles vital to efforts to study and protect them.

Once plentiful, due to human actions sea turtle population levels plummeted throughout much of the twentieth century, stabilizing somewhat only after Archie Carr and Jacques Cousteau popularized their plight. With Saving Sea Turtles: Extraordinary Stories from the Battle Against Extinction, award-winning author James R. Spotila picks up where Carr and Cousteau left off, going inside the modern-day conservation movement to tell the tales of today's sea turtle conservationists. He provides a complete overview of sea turtle biology and life cycles, discusses the human and natural world threats they face, and examines the new methods and technologies humans are using to save them.

Throughout, Spotila dots the narrative with stories of real-life heroes who risk life and limb to understand, track, and conserve sea turtles across the globe.

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Biography

James R. Spotila, Betz Chair Professor of Environmental Sciences at Drexel University, is one of the world's leading sea turtle researchers and conservationists, and the author of the award-winning book Sea Turtles: A Complete Guide to Their Biology, Behavior, and Conservation, also published by Johns Hopkins.