Sea turtles: ancient creatures, mysteries, adaptations, and threatens

Turtles are amazing creatures, they have survived for millions of years to changing the environments, shell, retractile neck, and limbs are evolutionary novelties, except for sea turtles, in which neither neck nor limbs are retractile as an adaptation for feeding, swimming, and diving in the ocean. Sea turtles appeared about 110 million years ago; the most ancient sea turtle alive is the leatherback, which appeared about 25 million years ago. Sea turtles perform extensive migrations from mating zones to feeding zones, females lay eggs in the same beaches they were born, hatchlings instinctively crawl to the ocean, where the currents haul them, and they stay in pelagic zones for food and shelter until adulthood. Humans have interacted with sea turtles for a long time; however, overfishing and other anthropogenic activities (such as the production of chemical compounds discharged into the ocean) have negatively affected wild populations. Some evidence indicates that these chemical compounds interact with the genome (the so-called epigenome), altering normal development, producing congenital malformations, and ultimately affecting survival. Thus, on one side, anthropogenic activities have damaged sea turtle populations, but on the other side, sea turtle conservation programs around the world are working to preserve these ancient creatures, we have a responsibility to make things right, it is not too late.