Each year over 10,000 giant Leatherback turtles visit our shores to nest compelling Time magazine in 2015 to name Trinidad and Tobago as the best place in the world to see Leatherback Turtle hatchlings.
STATUS Vulnerable
SCIENTIFIC NAME Dermochelys coriacea
WEIGHT 600-1500 pounds
LENGTH 55-63 inches
HABITATS Oceans
Leatherback turtles are named for their shell, which is leather-like rather than hard, like other turtles.
They are the largest sea turtle species and also one of the most migratory, crossing both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Pacific leatherbacks migrate from nesting beaches in the Coral Triangle all the way to the California coast to feed on the abundant jellyfish every summer and fall.
Although their distribution is wide, numbers of leatherback turtles have seriously declined during the last century as a result of intense egg collection and fisheries bycatch. Globally, leatherback status according to IUCN is listed as Vulnerable, but many subpopulations (such as in the Pacific and Southwest Atlantic) are Critically Endangered.
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