Wildlife Fact Sheet

Leatherback sea turtles are the largest sea turtles in the world! They can grow up to seven feet and weigh more than 2,000 pounds. While all other sea turtles have a hard body shell, leatherback sea turtles do not. You can recognize them by their soft carapace (top shell). Leatherback sea turtles have a top shell that is smooth, bluish-black leathery skin with small white spots that cover a matrix of bones with seven ridges (keels). Their back is where they get their name—since it’s smooth and leathery!

Leatherback sea turtles are the most migratory and wide-ranging of all sea turtle species. If you look in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean you will find leatherback sea turtles. After reaching sexual maturity at age 16, leatherback sea turtles make their way back to the exact beach where they were born (their “natal beach”) where they nest every two or three years. Leatherback sea turtles climb onto the beach at night, lay clutches of more than 100 eggs during the breeding season, and then return to the sea. After about two months, hatchlings emerge from the nest and make their journey to the ocean.