The leatherback sea turtles species is suspected to be over 100 million years old. They are the largest turtles on earth and can grow up to 2 meters long and weigh in at 900 kilograms. Unlike any other type of sea turtle the leatherbacks shell is not hard but softer and more flexible. Leatherbacks can dive up to 1,280 meters deeper than all other breads of sea turtles.
When it comes to migration the leatherbacks travel 6,000km each way. Once done mating the females go back to the beach were they hatched, and depending on the temperature of the nest the eggs become male or female. If the nest is a cooler temperature it is a male and if it is a warmer temperature it will produce females. If the temperature is 29.5 degrees Celsius it will produce a even ratio and males and females. It is estimates that only one in a million leather back make it from hatchling to adulthood. Due to many causes, such as people eating there egg, getting hit by boats, fishing lines and nets and plastic debris that they mistake for jellyfish.
The number of leatherbacks in the Atlantic is somewhat stable, but the Pacific population is declining at an alarming rate due to egg harvest, fishery by catch and coastal development. Some Pacific populations have disappeared entirely from certain areas, such as Malaysia.
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