The Largest Living Turtle

I have a friend who really likes turtles and collects them; well not the live ones, but she collects them in all other forms, like figurines, garden sculptures, toys just about anything turtle. So I decided to dig up some facts on turtles just for her and here’s what I found …

The largest living turtle!!

Is the Leatherback Sea Turtle

• Federal Status: Endangered worldwide.
• They have been here for over 65 million years.
• Because they are so distinctive that are in their own separate family, Dermochelys.
• The leatherback can be up to 6 feet in long and can weigh up to 1,300 pounds.
• The largest leatherback on record was a male stranded on the West Coast of Wales in 1988. He weighed 916 kg. [1] (That’s 2,015 lbs.)
• Their barrel-shaped body is covered with a leathery skin, hence its name.
• Their shell is dark black, brown or blue and speckled with white patches or dots.
• They have disproportionately large front flippers that allow it to swim for long periods of time and cover great distances.
• Leatherback sea turtles are found from the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Indian Ocean all around the globe. The most extensive range of any reptile.
• In the Atlantic they are regularly found off the coast of New England, especially the Gulf of Maine, in Long Island New York waters and in the Gulf of Mexico. Along the shores of Canada, Iceland, Europe, Spain and the British Isles.
• In the United States they are known to nest in Puerto Rico, St Croix, Culebra and Southeastern Florida
• They prefer open access beaches.
• The feed in the open ocean rather than near shore like other marine turtles do.
• They subsist on a diet of jellyfish
• At sea they often become entangled in long-lines, buoy anchor lines and other cables and ropes, this can results in injuries or drowning.
• Many die from ingesting plastic debris that is mistaken for jellyfish.
• They don’t do well in captivity because they are continually banging into the walls of their holding tanks this causes damage to their fragile skin.
• They mate at sea, after the age of 10 and as hatchlings once the males enter the water they never leave it.
• Fertilization is internal; a single female is usually bred by multiple males
• Females mate ever 3 to 5 years, returning to the beaches where they were hatched to lay their eggs. She will lay about 110 eggs, 70 of which are large and fertile, the remaining are sterile and smaller.
• In one breeding season one female may lay as many as 10 clutches, with an interval of about 9 days between laying.
• While still buried under the sand the eggs hatch in about 60 days. After nightfall the hatchlings dig to the surface and make their way to the sea.
• Once hatchlings are in the ocean they are generally not seen again until maturity.
• Most hatchlings never get the chance to reach the water because they are eaten by other reptiles and birds.

• It’s estimated that in 1980 there were over 115,000 adult females, now there are less than 25,000 worldwide. In the Pacific Ocean they are close to extinction.
• They are killed for their meat even though their flesh is not particularly palatable, and various parts that produce oil which is used for medicinal purposes.
• The leatherbacks greatest threat is widespread egg collection, in areas like Mexico where almost all the eggs are harvested for food, laws preventing this are not enforced.
• Only 7 of the known 19 nesting beaches receive some protection.
• About 640 adult Leatherbacks are killed each year by commercial fishing enterprise.

Sources:

http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/wildlife/endspec/leatfs.html

http://www.leatherback.org/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leatherback_Sea_Turtle

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[1] http://www.leatherback.org/