See The World's Most Endangered Turtles In Costa Rica

Do you love wildlife that much that you get to travel around the world just to see them? If you haven't been to Central America and would like to take a look at some of the amazing endangered turtles which resides there, you may want to visit the Costa Rican shores and get to see four species of these creatures while they still survive.

There are a total of seven species of sea turtles in the world among which, four of them are native Costa Rican citizens. With great agony, all of these species are on the highly critical endangered species list.

Reason For Declining Population

1. Their habitats are being destructed.

2. They are constantly getting killed and caught up. Actually 65% of them are getting hooked by lines of commercial fisheries.

3. The turtle eggs are hot on the black market because it is believed to raise a man's libido.

Types of Turtles That Come to Costa Rica's Shores

Olive Ridley Turtle - They come to the shores of Santa Rosa National Park and Ostional National Wildlife Refuge by the hundreds of thousands from July to November. These famous turtles are known for arriving in amazing numbers to the beach.

Leatherback Turtle - They have been around for over 65 million years, yet in the past 20 years their numbers have declined from 1100 a season to 70 a season. You can see this magical creature lay her eggs with a professional tour at the Playa Grande National Marine Park from December to March. This is the most endangered sea turtle in the world.

Green Turtle - The scientist that started to come to Tortuguero National Park's shores to study these creatures since 1970's realized how quickly they were declining and how important of a coastline Tortuguero was. From the 70's to the 80's their numbers fell from 15,000 to 3,000. This turtle represents the rare success of a very devoted organization - Caribbean Conservation Corporation (CCC). All the while, CCC fought to make this a national park, which it did in 1978. Since then the numbers have reached astounding numbers of 20,000.

Hawksbill Turtle- Their main nesting site is Marino Ballena National Park from May to November with an occasional appearance in Tortuguero. There are only 23,000 of these turtles left worldwide.

If you are interested in seeing these turtles or probably have a last look at them while they are not considered close to extinction, my advice is to come and see these wonderful creatures. Who knows if they might not be there next year!