Turtle
In February 2011, the Tortoise and Freshwater Turtle Specialist Group published a report about the top 25 species of turtles most likely to become extinct, with a further 40 species at very high risk of becoming extinct. This list excludes sea turtles, however, both the leatherback and the Kemp's ridley would make the top 25 list. The report is due to be updated in four years time allowing to follow the evolution of the list. Between 48 and 54% of all 328 of their species considered threatened, turtles and tortoises are at a much higher risk of extinction than many other vertebrates. Of the 263 species of freshwater and terrestrial turtles, 117 species are considered Threatened, 73 are either Endangered or Critically Endangered and 1 is Extinct. Of the 58 species belonging to the family Testudinidae, 33 species are Threatened, 18 are either Endangered or Critically Endangered, 1 is Extinct in the wild and 7 species are Extinct. 71% of all tortoise species are either gone or almost gone. Asian species are the most endangered, closely followed by the five endemic species from Madagascar. Turtles face many threats, including habitat destruction, harvesting for consumption, and the pet trade. The high extinction risk for Asian species is primarily due to the long-term unsustainable exploitation of turtles and tortoises for consumption and traditional Chinese medicine, and to a lesser extent for the international pet trade.
Sea turtle
Sea turtles are a species that finds relatively low offspring survival rates. If you were to start with 1000 sea turtle eggs, you would end up with only one sexually mature subject. Starting with 1000 eggs, roughly 20% wouldn’t hatch which means from the start only 800 sea turtles will hatch and make it to the sand surface. As the sea turtles begin to move down the beach and towards the waves, only 50% or 400 of them will make it to the ocean. This is due to predation and obstacles preventing the young turtles from reaching the ocean. Continuing, once in the ocean 50% of these sea turtles will survive to past juvenile stages of life. Once they reach adulthood only 20 sea turtles will survive, and this is without human interference. When human interference is factored in, only 2 out of 1000 sea turtles will survive to reproductive maturity.