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Leatherback Sea Turtle Research Papers

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The Leatherback sea turtle being in the family of Dermochelyidae is a very unique type of sea turtle out of the “7-8 species” that there are (Foster). “Leatherback Sea Turtles are the largest of the species of sea turtles alive today. They are found in oceans all around the world and are known to travel large distances throughout their lives” ("Leatherback Sea Turtle Facts For Kids, With Pictures & Video." Active Wild). The Leatherback sea turtle has a very critical time period in their life, birth. The males and females mate several weeks before nesting season begins often only being between “the ages of 8 and 15 years of age”, and after mating only the females come ashore to lay their eggs (World, Seaturtle. "Leatherback Sea Turtle."). This routine takes place during the night, and during this time the female sea turtle “excavates a hole in the sand, depositing around 80 eggs, filling the nest, leaving a large, disturbed area of sand that makes detection by predators difficult, and finally returning to the sea” (“Leatherback” Nat). The sex of the egg is determined by the temperature inside the nest, so a female hatchling is produced at a higher temperature whereas male hatchlings are produced in colder temperatures. When the eggs do hatch the males and females go their separate ways, “Female hatchlings that …show more content…

This particular shell is very different in various ways, like its bone structure, and also its texture which is how it got its name. “Instead of having hard shells like the other sea turtles, the Leatherback’s shell is more like a thick, rubbery skin” it is kind of like leather, hence the name (“Leatherback” Act). Most sea turtles have a hard shell, but the leatherback does not, instead it has a “flexible, tough, leathery skin. It has seven ridges along its length, and is shaped to slip through the water with minimal resistance” (“Leatherback”

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