Leatherback sea turtle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Leatherback sea turtle |
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Dermochelyidae
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Dermochelys
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| Dermochelys coriacea |
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The leatherback sea turtle is the biggest of all living sea turtles. It's also the fourth largest modern reptile, after three types of crocodilians.
Adult leatherbacks usually have a shell length of about 1 to 1.75 meters (3.3 to 5.7 feet). Their total length, from head to tail, can be 1.83 to 2.2 meters (6 to 7.2 feet). They weigh between 250 and 700 kilograms (550 to 1,540 pounds). The biggest one ever found was over 3 meters (9.8 feet) long and weighed 916 kilograms (2,019 pounds). It was found on a beach in Wales.
Young leatherbacks and their eggs are often eaten by other animals. But adult turtles can defend themselves well. Only the largest ocean predators can successfully hunt a grown leatherback.
These turtles are amazing divers. They can dive deeper than almost any other marine animal, reaching depths of up to 1,280 meters (4,200 feet).
They are also the fastest-moving reptiles in the water. The 1992 Guinness Book of World Records listed them swimming at 35.28 kilometers per hour (21.92 mph). Usually, they swim at a speed of 0.5 to 2.8 meters per second (1.1 to 6.3 mph).
Leatherbacks can live in many different parts of the world. They are found as far north as Alaska and Norway. They also live as far south as the Cape of Good Hope in Africa and the tip of New Zealand. You can find them in all tropical and subtropical oceans. They even travel into the Arctic Circle.
Scientists don't know exactly how long they live. Some reports say "30 years or more," while others suggest "50 years or more."
Contents
Leatherback Turtle Life and Habitat
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Where Leatherbacks Live
Leatherback turtles mostly live in the open ocean. One turtle was tracked swimming 20,000 kilometers (12,400 miles) from Indonesia to the U.S. This journey took over 647 days!
Leatherbacks follow their food, which is mostly jellyfish. This means they prefer deeper water during the day when jellyfish are lower. At night, jellyfish rise, so the turtles swim in shallower water. This hunting style often takes them into very cold waters. One turtle was even found hunting in water that was only 0.4°C (32.72°F). They can dive deeper than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) to find food. Only beaked whales and sperm whales can dive deeper among other diving animals.
When it's time to lay eggs, they like beaches that face deep water. They usually avoid beaches protected by coral reefs.
What Leatherbacks Eat
Adult leatherback turtles eat almost only jellyfish. Because they eat so many jellyfish, they help to control jellyfish numbers in the ocean. They also eat other soft-bodied creatures like tunicates and cephalopods.
Pacific leatherbacks travel about 6,000 miles (9,700 km) across the Pacific Ocean. They go from their nesting spots in Indonesia to eat jellyfish off the coast of California.
One big problem for these turtles is plastic bags floating in the ocean. Leatherback turtles mistake these plastic bags for jellyfish. It's thought that about one-third of adult leatherbacks have eaten plastic. Plastic gets into the ocean from cities, especially along the west coast where these turtles hunt.
Many types of sea turtles eat plastic marine debris. Even a small amount of plastic can harm or kill them by blocking their stomachs. When plastics fill their stomachs, they don't get enough nutrients from real food. This can slow their growth and affect their ability to have babies later. Turtles are at high risk of eating plastic bags near San Francisco Bay, the Columbia River, and Puget Sound.
How Long Leatherbacks Live
Not much is known about how long these turtles live. Some reports say they live for "30 years or more," while others suggest "50 years or more." Some guesses even say they could live over 100 years.
Leatherback Turtle Life Cycle and Reproduction
Predators and Dangers
Leatherback turtles face many dangers when they are young. Their eggs can be eaten by many animals on the coast. These include ghost crabs, monitor lizards, raccoons, dogs, and shorebirds. Many of these same animals also eat baby turtles as they try to reach the ocean. Once in the ocean, young leatherbacks can be hunted by cephalopods, sharks, and large fish.
Adult leatherbacks are huge and don't have a hard shell like other turtles. But they have fewer serious predators. Very large marine predators like killer whales, great white sharks, and tiger sharks might sometimes hunt them. Female turtles laying eggs have even been hunted by jaguars in tropical areas.
Adult leatherbacks are known to defend themselves strongly in the sea. One turtle was seen chasing a shark that tried to bite it. Then it even attacked the boat where humans were watching! Young leatherbacks spend more time in warm, tropical waters than adults do.
Adult turtles often travel very long distances. They migrate between the cold waters where they feed and the warm, tropical beaches where they were born. For example, female turtles tagged in French Guiana have been found on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean in Morocco and Spain.
Laying Eggs (Offspring)
Most sea turtles return to the exact beach where they hatched to lay their own eggs. But leatherbacks might choose a different beach nearby. They pick beaches with soft sand because their softer shells and plastrons can be easily hurt by hard rocks. These nesting beaches also have a gentle slope from the sea. This makes them easy to get to but also means they can wear away easily.
Leatherbacks lay their eggs at night. This is when it's safest from predators and not too hot. Since they spend most of their lives in the ocean, their eyes aren't great for seeing at night on land. They use the difference between the dark forest behind the beach and the brighter, moonlit ocean to find their way. They crawl towards the dark forest to nest, then return to the ocean towards the light.
Females dig a nest above the high-tide line using their flippers. One female can lay up to nine groups of eggs (called clutches) in one breeding season. There are about nine days between each time she lays eggs. Each clutch usually has around 110 eggs, and about 85% of them can hatch. After laying the eggs, the female carefully covers the nest. She scatters sand around to hide it from predators.
How Baby Turtles Develop
The cells inside the egg start to divide just hours after the egg is fertilized. But development pauses while the eggs are being laid. Then it starts again. Baby turtles are very sensitive to movement for the first 20 to 25 days of incubation. After this, their body parts and organs start to form. The eggs usually hatch in about 60 to 70 days.
Like other reptiles, the temperature of the nest decides if the baby turtles will be male or female. After dark, the baby turtles dig their way out of the nest and walk to the sea.
Leatherback nesting seasons are different depending on the location. In Parismina, Costa Rica, they nest from February to July. In French Guiana, it's from March to August. Atlantic leatherbacks nest between February and July, from South Carolina in the U.S. down to the United States Virgin Islands and to Suriname and Guyana.
Why Leatherbacks are Important to Humans
People around the world still collect sea turtle eggs. In Asia, collecting turtle eggs has caused a big drop in the number of these turtles. In places like Thailand and Malaysia, collecting eggs has almost wiped out local nesting groups. In Malaysia, where the turtle is almost gone, the eggs are seen as a special food.
Leatherbacks are also very important because they eat a lot of jellyfish. This helps keep jellyfish populations under control. This is good for humans because jellyfish often eat young fish. These young fish would otherwise grow up to be fish that humans catch for food.
Cultural Importance
The leatherback turtle is important to many cultures around the world. The Seri people in Mexico see the leatherback sea turtle as one of their five main creators. When a leatherback is caught, the Seri people hold ceremonies and parties before releasing it back into the ocean.
The Seri people have noticed that turtle numbers have dropped a lot. So, they started a group called Grupo Tortuguero Comaac to help save them. This group, made up of young and old tribe members, uses both their traditional knowledge and modern science to protect the turtles and their homes.
In the Malaysian state of Terengganu, the turtle is the state's main animal. You often see it in tourism advertisements.
On the South Island of New Zealand, the leatherback turtle is very important to the Koukourārata hapū (a family group) of te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. It also has wider meaning in Māori culture and for people across Polynesia. In 2021, a leatherback sea turtle that had died was buried by New Zealand's Department of Conservation in a special cave.
Protecting Leatherback Turtles
Once leatherback turtles grow up, they have few natural predators. They are most at risk when they are eggs or young babies. Birds, small mammals, and other animals dig up nests and eat the eggs. Shorebirds and crustaceans prey on the hatchlings as they rush to the sea. Once in the water, young turtles can be eaten by predatory fish and cephalopods.
Leatherbacks face slightly fewer human-related threats than other sea turtle species. This is because their meat has too much oil and fat, so people don't usually want to eat it. However, human activities still harm leatherback turtles in direct and indirect ways.
Directly, some are caught for food by local fishing groups. Nests are also raided by humans in places like Southeast Asia. In Florida, between 1980 and 2014, 603 leatherbacks were found stranded. Almost a quarter (23.5%) of these strandings were due to injuries from boats, which is the main cause.
Light pollution is a big danger for baby sea turtles. They are strongly attracted to light. Human-made light from streetlights and buildings makes hatchlings confused. They crawl towards the light and away from the beach. Baby turtles are attracted to light because the brightest area on a natural beach is the horizon over the ocean. The darkest area is the dunes or forest. On Florida's Atlantic coast, some beaches with many turtle nests have lost thousands of hatchlings because of artificial light.
Many human activities indirectly harm leatherback turtles. They are sometimes caught by accident in fishing nets (called bycatch). Getting tangled in lobster pot ropes is another danger. Since they are the largest living sea turtles, special devices in fishing nets (called turtle excluder devices) might not work for adult leatherbacks. In the eastern Pacific alone, about 1,500 adult females were accidentally caught each year in the 1990s.
Pollution, both chemical and physical, can also be deadly. Many turtles die from malabsorption and intestinal blockage after eating balloons and plastic bags. These items look like their jellyfish prey. Chemical pollution also hurts leatherbacks. High levels of certain chemicals have been found in their eggs. Studies from 1985-2007 found that 34% of leatherback turtles examined had plastic blocking their digestive system.
Because they eat jellyfish, leatherback sea turtles take in a lot of salt. Scientists have found harmful substances like arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, and selenium in their blood and salt glands. These substances were found in higher amounts in their blood. This shows that salt glands and red blood cells might be at risk from high levels of pollution in the oceans.
Global Efforts to Help
The leatherback turtle is listed on CITES Appendix I. This means it's illegal to export or import this species or its parts. It's also listed as an EDGE species by the Zoological Society of London.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species lists the leatherback as VU (Vulnerable). However, some groups of leatherbacks are in even more danger:
- East Pacific Ocean group: CR (Critically Endangered)
- Northwest Atlantic Ocean group: EN (Endangered)
- Southwest Atlantic Ocean group: CR (Critically Endangered)
- Southwest Indian Ocean group: CR (Critically Endangered)
- West Pacific Ocean group: CR (Critically Endangered)
Protecting the Pacific and Eastern Atlantic populations was one of the top ten issues in turtle conservation in a 2006 report. This report noted big drops in turtle numbers in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Malaysia. The eastern Atlantic nesting group was threatened by more fishing.
The Leatherback Trust was created specifically to help save sea turtles, especially the leatherback. This group set up a safe place in Costa Rica called Parque Marino Las Baulas.
Local and National Efforts
Different countries have different laws to protect the leatherback sea turtle.
The United States listed it as an endangered species on June 2, 1970. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 confirmed this status. In 2012, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) set aside 41,914 square miles of the Pacific Ocean along California, Oregon, and Washington as "critical habitat" for them. In Canada, the Species at Risk Act makes it illegal to harm the species in Canadian waters.
Ireland and Wales started a joint project to help leatherbacks. This project focuses on research like tagging and tracking turtles with satellites.
Earthwatch Institute, a group that connects volunteers with scientists, has a program called "Trinidad's Leatherback Sea Turtles." This program helps save the world's largest turtle from disappearing at Matura Beach, Trinidad. Volunteers work with scientists and a local group called Nature Seekers. This island is one of the most important nesting beaches for leatherback turtles. More than 2,000 female leatherbacks come to Matura Beach each year to lay their eggs.
Several Caribbean countries have also started conservation programs. For example, the St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network uses ecotourism to show people the problems leatherbacks face. In Parismina, Costa Rica, a village helps turtles with a hatchery program. In Dominica, patrollers protect leatherback nesting sites from poachers.
Mayumba National Park in Gabon, Central Africa, was created to protect Africa's most important nesting beach. Over 30,000 turtles nest on Mayumba's beaches each year.
In 2007, Malaysia's Fisheries Department planned to clone leatherback turtles to increase their numbers. But some scientists were unsure about this plan. Leatherbacks used to nest by the thousands on Malaysian beaches. In the late 1960s, over 3,000 females nested in Terengganu. By 1993, only two females were recorded nesting there.
In Brazil, the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources' projeto TAMAR (TAMAR project) helps leatherback reproduction. They protect nests and try to prevent turtles from being accidentally caught by fishing boats. In January 2010, one female laid hundreds of eggs in Pontal do Paraná. This was unusual because leatherbacks were thought to nest only in another state, Espírito Santo. Biologists are now protecting these nests.
Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 lists D. coriacea as vulnerable. Queensland's Nature Conservation Act 1992 lists it as endangered.
Images for kids
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Size of leatherback compared to human
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Hatchlings crawling to the sea
See also
In Spanish: Tortuga laúd para niños
