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The leatherback sea turtle may be the most amazing animal on earth. Like the other remaining species of marine turtle, it left its terrestrial ancestors about 110 million years ago, developed flippers, and populated the Seven Seas—before there were Seven Seas.

Way back then, the world was a very different place. The Tibetan and Indian Himalayas would not be created for another 65 million years. Antarctica and Australia were still almost connected when the first ancestors of leatherbacks took to the sea. Tens of millions of generations of turtles lived and died before those two continents assumed the positions they occupy today. Antarctica was close to Africa and its weather was still temperate. The southern Atlantic Ocean was still forming as over millennia South America moved away from what is now Africa.

During the Age of Dinosaurs these turtles occupied the oceans. But, and this is the important thing to remember, that sea turtles, much like those we see today, were on earth millions of years before the first dinosaur came into existence. They were swimming the oceans 400,000 centuries before the “Terrible Lizard”, Tyrannosaurus Rex, made its entry on earth’s stage. Yes, this is not a misprint: 400,000 centuries.

There is another animal that used to be terrestrial but now is found in the oceans. It is the whale. But, whales and their cousins, the porpoises are relatively recent converts to the deep seas. Sea turtles had been swimming sea for fifty million years before these mighty leviathans left land for the oceans.

Leatherbacks are the largest of all sea turtles, weighing as much as a ton, were here long before the first dinosaur, survived the greatest mass extinction the world has ever experienced, and flourished. But, that spectacular ability to adapt is not why they are so amazing.

Consider its athletecism. As a swimmer, how does it rate against, say, Michael Phelps. Phelps is the fastest swimmer in the world and holds the 200 meter freestyle world record. But, suppose he had to swim that race against a leatherback. No question Phelps would be sleeker and trimmer and the turtle would have to carry about 1,800 more pounds (sort of like a handicap for a race horse). Now, imagine that the spectacular Phelps swam the race of his life and set another world record at 200 meters. And the poor turtle, where would it be? Oh, yea. It would be off in the distance some 800 meters away—nearly a third of a mile farther than Phelps. This turtle can swim 1,000 meters in the same time Phelps swims just 200. The extraordinary reptilian athlete is in the 1992 Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest reptile on earth! And, amazingly, a leatherback swims at nearly the same speed as the world’s fastest man can run—in the short 100 yard dash! Impressed yet?

This marine speed demon is also a marathoner of epic proportions and may migrate farther than any other animal. One of these turtles was tracked by turtle researchers migrating 13,000 miles.

Besides being the world’s fastest reptile and maybe the world’s greatest long-distance migrator, it is the deepest diving marine turtle on the planet, regularly diving some 4,000 feet underwater. To put that depth into perspective, today’s nuclear attack submarines are estimated to have a maximum normal operating depth of 1,600 feet because sea pressure at 2,400 feet would crush them. Man’s best technology and strongest metal and composite materials are no match for the diving ability of hundred million year old species of turtle.

You are probably not surprised to hear that leatherbacks swim all the tropical and subtropical waters on earth. But, north to the Arctic Circle? And south of New Zealand where waters are 40 degrees fahrenheit? These astounding animals, even though they are cold blooded, have a metabolic rate four times faster than other sea turtles and a unique internal heat-producing device that keeps their body temperature as much as 32 degrees higher than the surrounding water. The water outside its shell may be a frigid 40 but inside this grand turtle is enjoying a cozy 72 degrees. If you are a scuba diver, think of it like the world’s first wet suit.

Sadly, in the blink of an eye, one arrogant species has brought this magnificent animal to the tipping point of its very existence. It has become so rare that it is classified as critically endangered. By 2005, the Mexican population of leatherbacks had been reduced to just one percent of what it had been just 25 years earlier, a conservation catastrophe by any measure. On beaches in Malaysia that once had the world’s largest leatherback nesting population, about 10,000 nests, 2008 produced only two nests. Somewhere, the Angels weep at human stupidity, rapaciousness, and over exploitation and destruction.

Today, more than 100 countries, hundreds of conservation organizations, and tens of thousands of volunteers are determined to stem the decline of this magnificent creature but it remains very vulnerable. Despite laws to the contrary their nests are routinely plundered for eggs. Untold numbers die from eating plastic bags which look like jellyfish, their primary food. Coastal development, habitat destruction, drowning in nets left by fishermen all take their tolls. This most ancient of all creatures has survived a hundred million generations but might not survive my generation and yours.

Costa Rica is home to all but one of the world’s marine turtle species and has set aside important refuges on both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. And, Costa Rica ecotourism is playing an increasingly important role in saving sea turtles. On its Caribbean coast is Tortuguero, the world’s biggest and most important green sea turtle nesting preserve. The Pacific coast has Ostional Refuge that has the planet’s largest arribadas—mass nestings of hundreds of thousands of olive ridley turtles. Either of these places are good places for looking for leatherbacks, too.

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