Classification
Status - Threatened
The Leatherback Sea Turtle is threatened because of poaching, egg poaching, commercial fishing nets, and eating plastic waste thrown in the ocean and on beaches. The turtles primary source of food is jellyfish, and because they can't distinguish plastic from jellyfish, they eat it and it gets stuck in their digestive system. The turtle and its eggs are poached for food and oils by humans.
Human Impact
The turtle itself is poached for its flesh and oils. The flesh is used for food and oils are used for many reasons. The eggs are poached for food in parts of Asia. The turtle lives in many parts of the world where commercial fishing is common. Unfortunately, the turtles often see food in the net, try to swim in to get it, and then get stuck and suffocate. People also leave plastic on beaches where females lay their eggs. The females may mistake it for a jellyfish. There is also plastic floating in the ocean which they eat.
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Habitat And Range
The Leatherback Sea Turtles habitat is the saltwater aquatic. It is also know as the sea/ocean biome. The oceans hold thousands of life forms, there are more life forms in the ocean then there are on land. The ocean biome includes animals such as invertebrates, fish, mammals, reptiles, and plant forms including algae, seaweed, and plankton. The Leatherback Sea Turtle has a very wide global distribution and lives in many different oceans, including the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, and the Indian Ocean.
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Reproduction
An adult Leatherback Sea Turtle lives alone, so it doesn't have a pack in which it travels. In order to find a mate it swims around. After mating, the female goes back to the beach she was born at and lays 100-150 eggs, then she crawls back into the ocean. The males never leave the water. Eggs are commonly preyed on by humans and other animal predators. After the eggs hatch, it is a dangerous crawl back to the ocean. They are at a high risk of being eaten in early life. On average, only two to five turtles will make it to adulthood out of the 100-150 eggs laid.
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Adaptations
The Leatherback Sea Turtle has made many adaptations over the millions of years it has existed. It is able to eat the poison in jellyfish. Their thick leather shell is very protective against bites from predators or against bullets and knives, which are used by poachers. The Leatherback Sea Turtle has a think layer of oily fat witch keeps it warm when it is swimming in cold waters. It also has one adaptation that many other sea turtles don't have. It can turn off blood flow to cold flippers. If one flipper gets too cold, it can turn stop the blood from flowing to that flipper and use it for other parts of the body. The unused flipper will just hang limply until the turtle swims to warmer water so it can warm up. Unfortunately, if blood flow is stopped to all flippers, the turtle can no longer swim and will drown.
Behavior
When a baby Leatherback is first born, it stays with the siblings that make it to the water. However, not all the siblings will survive because there are many predators that try to eat them. When a Leatherback finally reaches adulthood, it will split up from its siblings and live alone, only to meet with other turtles for mating, or just swimming by each other.
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Fun Facts
- They are the largest sea turtle in the world.
- They can be more then 6 feet long.
- They can weigh up to 1400 pounds, averaging 800 pounds.
- They are the fastest moving reptiles in the world.
- They are the only sea turtle with a soft, rubbery shell.
- They are among the world's most geographically wide-ranging of all vertebrates.
- The temperature inside the nest decides the gender of the hatchlings - 85.1 = Mix, Wamer = Females, and Cooler = Males.
- The largest Leatherback known to man was 8.5 feet long and weighed 2,020lbs.
- Ansestors of modern Leatherbacks date back 110 million years.
- They have backwards spines in their throats so prey can't escape once it is swallowed!