Leatherback Turtles Report

Hi fellow bloggers. For the last two weeks we have been doing animal reports. We got to choose our own animal to do our animal report on. I chose leatherback turtles. These animal reports are practises for our trout reports after the ski trip.
I hope you enjoy it:

Leatherback Turtles

Classification

Leatherback turtles are vertebrate animals which means they have a backbone or a spinal
column. They are classed as reptiles and  come from the family Dermochelyidae.  The
Leatherback turtle’s scientific name is Dermochelys coriacea which means : turtle with
leathery skin.

Appearance

Leatherback turtles are the biggest sea turtle in the world. They also are almost the
biggest reptile in the world.  Leatherback turtles can get up to 2 metres in length. They
can weigh up to 1400 pounds. The leatherback turtle gets its name from its thick leathery
skin.  The record weight of a leatherback turtle is 916 kg. Turtles have flippers that help
them swim and help them move onto land when laying eggs. They move their flippers
forward then quickly pull them back pushing water back making them move through
the water smoothly. Their flippers are curved slightly. On the head of a leatherback
turtle it has a beak. Its head has two round eyes on each side. On its shell it has a black
skin.  A leatherback turtle doesn’t have a shell, instead it is skin with bone frame. Little
white spots cover its leathered skin. On the back of its body it has a tail. Its tail is
triangular shaped. The tail is a floppy tail.

Habitat

These turtles  are found throughout the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
This turtle species also extends to Alaska and to the tip of New Zealand. Pacific
leatherbacks migrate back from beaches in the Coral triangle to the California coast.  
The biggest populations are found in the Atlantic, Eastern Pacific and Western Pacific
Ocean. Leatherback turtles are found through the open ocean. They are found in deeper
waters at day and shallow waters at night.

Diet

Leatherback turtles eat jellyfish, tunicate and squirts. They will also eat fish mollusks,
squid and sea urchins. Leatherback sea turtles are omnivores.  An omnivore is an animal
that eats both meat and plants.

Leatherback turtles change their diet when they grow older. Their diet changes to seaweed,
seagrass and algae. Leatherback turtles can eat 800 to 900 pounds of jellyfish a day.

Reproduction

A male leatherback turtle will swim onto the female leatherback turtles back when the
female is swimming horizontally.  A leatherback turtle lays 110 ping pong like eggs.
Leatherback turtles come back to the same place they were born to lay their eggs.  It is
estimated that only 1 - 5 baby turtles will reach adulthood. It takes about 45-55 days
for a baby leatherback turtle to hatch. A leatherback turtle can lay 7 to 11 nests. A
leatherback turtle will make her nest by using her back flippers to dig a hole to lay
her eggs in.

Threats

The threats to this turtle are tiger sharks, fish, seabirds, dogs, ghost crabs and raccoons.
 There is also habitat loss, pollution and climate change. Some threats to leatherback
turtles include  poaching for meat and eggs. Plastic bags are also very bad. A turtle can
easily mistake it as a jellyfish and eat it. When a plastic bag enters a turtle it causes
blockage in the digestive system and causes them to die.

Conclusion

After reading my report on Leatherback sea turtles I hope you learnt something.
Here is a fun fact on Leatherback turtles: A Leatherback sea turtle is thought to live
up to 30 years.

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