Interesting Facts about Leatherback Sea Turtles
Interesting Facts about Leatherback Sea Turtles
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The leatherback sea turtle is the largest of all living sea turtles. They are the only remaining representatives of a family of turtles that traces its evolutionary roots back more than 100 million years. It is differentiated from other modern day sea turtles by its lack of a bony shell. It is the fourth largest modern reptile. They are the only living species in the genus Dermochelys. |
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Leatherback turtles can dive deeper than any other turtle. They can dive to depths of 4200 feet (1280 meters).
They have the widest global distribution of all reptile species.
They undertake the longest migrations of any sea turtle between breeding and feeding. These migrations average 6000 kilometers or 3700 miles each way.
The largest leatherback ever found was 8.5 feet long and weighed 916 kg. Can you believe that a a turtle weighing 916 KG and measuring 8.5 FEET?!
They are normally at least 6 feet long with 7 feet being the average length.
They have backward pointing spines in their mouth and throat.
They lay a clutch of around 80 eggs and the eggs take about two months to hatch. The hatchlings are mostly blackish in color.
To protet the eggs they have laid, the leatherbacks leave a large disturbed area of sand around their nest. This makes it difficult for the predators to detect their nests.
Jellyfish is their favorite food.
Unlike their reptilian relatives, leatherback turtles have the ability to maintain warm body temperatures in cold water.
Leatherbacks have the ability to hold their breaths for up to 85 minutes.
According to an estimate only one in a thousand leatherback hatchlings reach adulthood.
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