The story of an ancient sea turtle and what its survival says about
our future, from the award-winning writer and naturalist
Though nature is indifferent to the struggles of her creatures, the
human effect on them is often premeditated. The distressing decline of
sea turtles in Pacific waters and their surprising recovery in the
Atlantic illuminate what can go both wrong and right from our
interventions, and teach us the lessons that can be applied to restore
health to the world's oceans and its creatures. As Voyage of the
Turtle, Carl Safina's compelling natural history adventure makes clear,
the fate of the astonishing leatherback turtle, whose ancestry can be
traced back 125 million years, is in our hands.
Writing with verve and color, Safina describes how he and his colleagues
track giant pelagic turtles across the world's oceans and onto remote
beaches of every continent. As scientists apply lessons learned in the
Atlantic and Caribbean to other endangered seas, Safina follows
leatherback migrations, including a thrilling journey from Monterey,
California, to nesting grounds on the most remote beaches of Papua, New
Guinea. The only surviving species of its genus, family, and suborder,
the leatherback is an evolutionary marvel: a reptile that behaves like a
warm-blooded dinosaur, an ocean animal able to withstand colder water
than most fishes and dive deeper than any whale.
In his peerless prose, Safina captures the delicate interaction between
these gentle giants and the humans who are finally playing a significant
role in their survival.
Magnificent . . . A joyful, hopeful book. Safina gives us ample reasons
to be enthralled by this astonishing ancient animal--and ample reasons
to care. -- The Los Angeles Times
