Leatherback Turtle Project Begins In Gabon

Leatherback Turtle is an endangered species. Gabon, West Africa, is believed to be the species last major ‘stronghold’. A conservation project designed to help protect the endangered leatherback turtle has just been launched in Gabon. In order to understand their migratory habits the turtles will be tagged and tracked. Dr. Brendan Godley of the University of Exeter leads the study. The leatherback is the largest living turtle and is so distinctive that it is placed in its own separate family, Dermochelys. It travels the farthest and dives the deepest The largest leatherback on record was a male stranded on the West Coast of Wales in 1988. He weighed 916 kg.