Baby Leatherback Sea Turtle Dermochelys Coriacea Newly Hatched In Cipara Beach, Venezuela Stock Photography

Leatherback turtles are the only living species in the family Dermochelyidae, a group of sea turtles without a bony shell. Their origins date back to the Cretaceous period. There are several populations and subpopulations of leatherback turtles around the world, but all them are threatened in some degree. The population in the Atlantic ocean is one of the most greatly endangered, mainly due to the mortality of adult turtles accidentally captured in fisheries as bycatch. Death by ingestion of plastic and the unregulated poaching of eggs by humans are other factors in the decline of the populations.