Leatherback Hatchlings — The Run to the Sea
Dermochelys coriacea
Quick Fact
Only around one in a thousand leatherback hatchlings will survive to adulthood — making every individual that reaches the sea critically important to the species.
Filmed during Rowan Byrne's fieldwork with the Rosalie Sea Turtle Initiative, Dominica.
About This Species
When leatherback sea turtle eggs hatch, the hatchlings must make one of nature's most dangerous journeys — from the nest to the sea. They emerge at night, guided by the natural brightness of the ocean horizon, and must reach the water before predators, exhaustion, or disorientation claims them. Only an estimated one in a thousand hatchlings will survive to adulthood. Artificial lighting from coastal development is one of the greatest threats — it disorients hatchlings, drawing them inland instead of toward the sea.
Why It Matters
Protecting nesting beaches from light pollution, development, and human disturbance is essential for leatherback survival. The Rosalie Sea Turtle Initiative in Dominica is one of the most important leatherback conservation programmes in the Caribbean.
Transcript
There are moments in nature that stay with you forever. Watching leatherback hatchlings run to the sea is one of them. I've been present for dozens of leatherback emergences in Dominica. The nest incubates for around 60 to 70 days. Then, usually at night, the hatchlings begin to dig their way out — a process that can take several days as they work together to excavate the sand above them. When they emerge, they're tiny — about six centimetres long, weighing just 40 grams. And they have to run a gauntlet. They orient toward the brightest horizon — naturally the sea reflecting the sky. But artificial lights from buildings and roads confuse them, drawing them inland where they die from exhaustion, dehydration, or predation. On a natural beach, the run to the sea takes minutes. But in that time, frigatebirds, crabs, and other predators take a heavy toll. Only around one in a thousand hatchlings will survive to adulthood. That sounds brutal. But it's a system that worked for 100 million years — until humans started stacking the odds against them. Egg poaching, beach lighting, coastal development, plastic in the ocean, fishing bycatch. Every one of these is a human-caused threat that didn't exist for most of the leatherback's evolutionary history. Watching those tiny turtles sprint toward the waves, I feel both the wonder of it and the weight of our responsibility. We broke it. We have to fix it.