A photographer in Australia was astounded when he saw not one, not two, but three rare leatherback turtles when flying his drone.
"I was insanely lucky to come across this individual today, one of only around 60 sightings in NSW (New South Wales),” says photographer Ashley Sykes who shared his video of the languid leatherback on Instagram.
Globally, leatherbacks (Dermochelys coriacea) are categorised as vulnerable to extinction by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species but they are considered endangered in Australia.
"But this guy seemed happy as he entered my local beach to chomp on some jellyfish,” adds Sykes.
He spotted the first turtle in late February 2025 and was astounded when he saw another in early March. "Compare the two,” he says. “They are different individuals!”
In mid-March, his luck continued with yet another sighting. “That’s right… a THIRD (different) leatherback turtle (eating a jellyfish),” he says. "Can you believe it?”
For Sykes, this shows why drones can be so helpful for marine life sightings. "Most ocean species have absolutely no change in behaviour when a drone is near them, and it allows us to see their natural behaviours without disturbing them,” he says.
“Who would have known otherwise that two different endangered leatherback turtles were cruising around my local beach?”
More amazing wildlife videos from around the world
- Peculiar sea creature that looks like a spotty golf ball filmed near Vancouver Island after season-long search
- When marine biologists peered into this shark egg, they were utterly astonished by what they saw
- Ocean photographer films "beyond mesmerising" natural spectacle in underwater cave
- Scuba divers went to an airplane graveyard in the Pacific and found souls lurking among the wrecks
