They spend the vast majority of their lives at sea, females only coming ashore to lay eggs. The age at which leatherbacks attain sexual maturity is not known but is thought to be between 9 and 20 years of age. Leatherback sea turtle ( Dermochelys coriacea) Their life expectancy is unknown but has been estimated at about 45 to 50 years or more. Their eggs and hatchlings can fall prey to seabirds, raccoons, dogs, and ghost crabs) on land. These turtles are food for killer whales and tiger sharks at sea.
They may also eat squid, salps, crustaceans, fish, and seaweed. Leatherback sea turtles dine primarily on soft-bodied open-ocean prey, such as jellyfish. Although they need to breathe air, they are adapted to expel waste gases through their skin, which allows them to stay underwater up to 85 minutes. Leatherbacks are skilled divers, reaching depths of 1,200 metres (about 4,000 feet). They also have a specialized network of blood vessels that helps them remain warm even in colder waters by transferring heat produced in the limbs to raise the temperature of the blood in the turtle’s veins before it returns to the heart. Their large body size and their layer of fat allow them to produce and maintain body heat. Although they nest primarily on tropical or subtropical beaches, leatherbacks possess some unique adaptations that allow them to swim in colder waters. (One turtle was tracked for 20,558 km traveling from New Guinea to Oregon in the U.S. Migrating leatherbacks have been known to swim about 16,000 km (about 10,000 miles) per year between nesting and feeding sites, with some swimming even longer distances. Leatherbacks have existed largely unchanged since the Cretaceous and Jurassic periods (201.3 million to 66 million years ago). Their long, paddle-shaped front flippers, which often span 2.7 metres (roughly 9 feet), help them swim long distances. Leatherbacks have sharp-edged jaws, toothlike cusps, and throats lined with backward pointing spines that help them capture and hold onto invertebrate prey. Hatchlings have scales on the carapace, which usually has white blotches. Beneath the carapace is a layer of fat that helps insulate the turtle in cooler waters. Underneath the leathery skin, which may have some pinkish or white spotting within its dark coloration, is a matrix of bones that form the carapace, which has seven ridges along its length. In addition to being the largest living turtle, the leatherback sea turtle, or leatherback, is one of the largest living reptiles, with adults growing up to 2.4 metres (about 8 feet) in length and weighing up to some 900 kg (about 2,000 pounds)-which, according to some researchers, makes it the world’s heaviest reptile. It is the largest turtle species in the world, and it is both the widest-ranging reptile and one of the widest-ranging vertebrates in the world. The leatherback sea turtle lives in the world’s temperate and tropical oceans, from the high seas to intertidal habitats. It is the only member of the turtle family Dermochelyidae.
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It sports a bony carapace covered with black or brown skin with a texture similar to leather, which gives the turtle its name. Leatherback sea turtle, ( Dermochelys coriacea), also called leatherback turtle or leatherback, species of sea turtle notable because it lacks scales and a hard shell.
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