What is a leatherback Turtle?
leatherback turtles are huge. They are the largest living marine
reptiles.
They can grow to more than 2.1 metres (7 feet) in length and
weight more than 540 kilograms (1,200 pounds).
They have no visible shell. There is a shell but it consists
of bones buried in the dark brown or blackish skin. There are
seven ridges on the back of the turtle and five on its underside.
leatherbacks can dive to more than 1400 metres and can remain submerged
for an hour. They live almost their entire lives at sea. They only
come to land when the females are ready to lay eggs.
Laying Eggs
The nesting leatherbacks prefer beaches with a gentle slope and
free of rocks. The turtles avoid lights.
The turtles use their hind flippers to dig a deep 70 cm chamber.
Once the turtle are laying their eggs they are oblivious to
almost everything around them.
The laying of eggs take two hours and the turtles will return
up to seven times at intervals of about nine days.
The eggs take 60 days to hatch. The sex of the turtles is determined
by the temperature of the sand during a critical phase of its
embryonic development.
Once hatched, the hatchlings then must make a mad dash to the
ocean. On the beach they are exposed to birds, crabs and other
predators.
There is little known their life at sea but research indicates
the turtles migrate long distances between feeding and nesting
areas.
