The Biggest Turtle in the World (Facts, Photos and Videos)

Recently, I wanted to know what is the biggest turtle in the world, how do they look, and where to find them. It’s generally known that the Galapagos turtles are among the biggest turtles in the world, but it’s also known that sea turtles can reach huge proportions, so which is the biggest turtle in the world? I decided to do some research to find the answer, here are the results of my research.

What is the biggest turtle in the world? The biggest turtle in the world is the leatherback sea turtle. Adult leatherback turtles’ average in total length is 6.0 – 7.5 feet ( 1.83 – 2.3 meters ) and the average weight is between 550 and 1500 lb ( 250 and 700 ) kg.

Those were just the averages, some leatherback turtles are able to reach considerably bigger sizes. Now let’s take a closer look at leatherback turtles and find out how they live, where they live, what they eat, and how those things influence the sizes that they can reach.

The Biggest Leatherback Turtle that Ever Existed

The biggest leatherback turtle that was found had a length of almost 10 feet ( 3 meters ) and weighed 2,019 pounds ( 916 kg ).

There might be an even bigger turtle out there, but at the moment none has been found.

Since only females leave the sea to lay the eggs, half of the leatherback population never leaves the sea, so this makes it a little harder to know if there are any bigger turtles in the ocean at the moment.

The Habitat of Leatherback Turtles

So where can those huge turtles be found? In the ocean, but since the biggest animals in the world can be found in the ocean there is no surprise here. Still, the oceans of the world are huge and turtles are not exactly everywhere, some places are better suited than others for them. So let’s talk about this in a little more detail.

Leatherback turtles can be found in almost all oceans in the world, having the biggest range of all sea turtle species. They can be found in all tropical and subtropical oceans and even in the arctic circle, a part of the world where most turtles stay away, they have a huge range of living space from the southernmost tip of New Zealand to the northern parts of Alaska.

Atlantic Ocean

The Leatherback turtles in the Atlantic Ocean can be found from the North Sea to the Cape of Good Hope.

The leatherback turtles are able to resist the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean compared to other turtle species, they are also able to find good feeding spots some of the most well known being the Gulf of Saint Lawrence near Quebec, and in the northern parts of the Newfoundland and Labrador region.

There are a lot of known nesting sites in this region some of the most known being:

Suriname in South America
Guyana in South America
French Guiana in South America
Antigua in the Caribbean
Barbuda in the Caribbean
Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean
Gabon in Africa
Florida in North America
Costa Rica in Central America

The beaches of Gabon also host the biggest nesting population in Africa, possibly worldwide, consisting of nearly 30,000 turtles visiting the beaches each year.

Pacific Ocean

The leatherback turtles that live in the Pacific Ocean are divided into two categories, the western population, and the eastern population, those groups are divided based on the nesting and feeding locations, in rest, there are no other differences between them.

The eastern population usually nests on the beaches of Papua, Indonesia, and the Solomon Islands and they can be usually found searching for food along the coasts of California, Oregon, and Washington in North America.

On the opposite side, the eastern population can be found nesting on the coasts of Mexico, Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. They can be found searching for food in the coastal waters of South America usually close to the nesting areas.

Indian Ocean

Unfortunately, at the moment there are very few things known about the leatherback turtles that live in the Indian Ocean so there are not many pieces of information that I can share with you. The only thing is known about this group so that the nesting locations can be found in Sri Lanka and in the Nicobar Islands.

South China Sea

At some point the beach of Rantau Abang in Terengganu, Malaysia was one of the biggest nesting places in the world for leatherback turtles with 10,000 turtles coming to nest here every year. But at the moment no turtles are coming here for nestin. The reason is the decline in population due to the huge egg consumption. There have been efforts to bring back the leatherback population in the area be at the moment none have been successful. Hopefully over time turtles will return to this area and the beaches of Rantau Abang will once again be a great nesting place for turtles.

Appearance of Leatherback Turtles

As you can imagine sea turtles have some very different characteristics from the other turtles that live in lakes rivers or on the land. But the leatherback turtles also have some characteristics that set them apart from the other species that live in the ocean.

The most notable difference between the leatherback turtle and the rest of the turtles is the shell. As the name implies the leatherback turtle lacks a hard-bony shell like the rest of the turtles have and instead it has a thick leather-like skin that contains some bony deposits that form spiky scale-like structures, those deposits are called osteoderm and they are more commonly found in lizards, crocodiles, frogs and at some point on certain dinosaurs.

Those bony scales have multiple functions. First, they act as armor, while it’s not as strong as a normal turtle shell it still offers great protection against predators and other turtles. They also help with heat exchange, allowing the turtles to quickly raise or lower their body temperature.

The scales also help with the neutralization of carbon dioxide in the bloodstream. The carbon dioxide gets in the bloodstream because they spend a lot of time underwater.

Another characteristic that sets the leatherback turtles apart from the rest of the turtles is made out of seven distinct ridges that rise from the carapace and traverse the entire carapace from the neck of the turtle to the back of the carapace.

The upper side of the shell is colored in dark grey, but sometimes they can be completely black, and it’s decorated with a lot of white spots that are more prevalent in some turtles than in others. The same pattern of dark gray or black with white spots is also present on the skin of the turtle, with the spots being more concentrated near the mouth of the turtle. The reason this pattern probably developed is to serve as a way of camouflaging from predators that watch from above.

The underside of the leatherback turtle is lightly colored. This is very common in most animal species that live in the ocean. If you’ve ever seen a fish you’ve probably observed that their bellies are always a lighter shade than the rest of the bellies, this phenomenon is called countershading and it’s present in most animals that live underwater.

The leatherback turtles also have a very hydrodynamic body shape that sets them apart from the rest of the turtles. They have a teardrop-shaped body, with the end of the shell that is closer to the head bending down a little, to oppose little resistance when the water is passing, and the other end is pointy, covering the tail a little.

Like all sea turtles, leatherbacks have flattened forelimbs that are perfect for swimming in the ocean. Unlike most turtles, they don’t have any kind of claws attached to their limns. The flippers of the leatherback turtle are not only the biggest in size but also the biggest in proportion compared to the rest of the body. The front flippers can reach sizes of 10 ft ( 3 m ).

Like most turtles, they have no teeth, but they have a sharp cutting edge on the top of their mouth that they use to bite plants and other animals.

Male leatherback turtles have longer tails than females. The tail of a male is usually around 2 feet long while the tail of the female rarely extends beyond the carapace.

The Diet of Leatherback Turtles

Surprisingly the diet of leatherback turtles is not very varied. Their diet almost entirely consists of jellyfishes. They will also eat a varied mix of water plants and a couple of fishes now and then but their primary source of food are jellyfishes.

The reasons why leatherback turtles feed almost entirely on jellyfishes is actually quite simple, they are really easy to catch ant they provide enough nutrients for the turtles to survive. And jellyfishes can be found in a lot of places in the ocean which is perfect for turtles because they usually migrate a lot.

Fun fact: Because leatherback turtles and other sea turtle species eat a lot of jellyfishes they actually help control the jellyfish population who would otherwise probably get out of control.

Leatherback Turtles Reproduction

Now let’s talk about the reproductive habits of the leatherback turtles. The reproductive habits of the leatherback turtle are really something special when you compare them with other animals.

It all starts with a journey of thousand miles in which they migrate to one of the breeding sites. Once they reach one of the breeding sites they will start looking for a partner. The courtship process is very physical, the male will try to maintain physical contact with the female by using its flippers and occasionally biting her neck and tail. If the female accepts the male she will let him climb on top of her and begin the reproduction, if she rejects the male she will try to escape and submerge deep underwater. It is very common to find multiple males fighting over a female, when two male turtles compete they will be very aggressive towards each other and they will bite the tails and flippers of the other turtles, this can happen even if a female turtle has accepted a male and they are performing intercourse.

As a result of the aggressive courtship ritual and reproduction process, a lot of adult turtles are full of bite marks from other turtles.

The mating ritual usually takes place close to the surface and in some cases on the nesting beaches.

Another thing that sets leatherback turtles’ reproduction apart from other turtles is that the females mate with multiple males, this helps the species maintain a genetic diversity that helps the species survive.

After the female turtles are done mating they will leave the water and they will go to the beach where they will lay the eggs. When they reach the beach they begin digging a hole that is around 30 inches ( 76 centimeters ) deep where they will lay the eggs.

The eggs are very different from the ones from birds that we are used to seeing. Instead of a hard shell, they have a flexible one, this is necessary because when turtles lay eggs they don’t sit close to the grounds like animals but instead they drop them from the top of the hole. After they are done laying the eggs they return to the sea where they will spend around 10 days feeding to regain their strength and after that, they will return to the beach to lay more eggs. On average a leatherback turtle will lay around 70 eggs in one sitting. A leatherback turtle can lay between 5 and 10 series of eggs during one nesting season. After which they will take a break of about 4 or 5 years before they are able to return again. They need such a long break because laying eggs can be very hard for a sea turtle, since they don’t have legs they have to use their flippers to drag their massive bodies through the sand until they find a good spot for a nest.

Fun Fact #1: It’s a common misconception that turtles shed tears when they lay eggs. People probably think that turtles go through similar pains to those of women who give birth. But in reality, there is no proof that turtles feel any pain when they lay eggs and the tears are a result of excess salt that is being eliminated by their bodies.

Fun Fact #2: Turtles always return to lay eggs on the same beach on which they were born.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u5NqrKG3dA

This is a video of a Leatherback turtle leaving a beach after laying eggs.

Baby Leatherback Turtles

Now it’s time to talk about what happens to the turtle eggs and how they evolve into full-grown leatherback turtles.

After a turtle leaves the nest where they laid the eggs, the only protection the eggs have are the few inches of sand that cover them, so this leaves them very vulnerable to predators and other dangers.

When turtles start nesting a lot of birds will gather around them and they will try to eat the eggs. Turtles have little to no way of protecting the eggs so about 10% to 20% of the eggs will be eaten by the birds.

Another danger for the eggs is other turtles. Since there is no way to know if a turtle already laid their eggs in a certain place other turtles will start digging in the same spot to lay their own eggs and in the process they will throw out the eggs that were previously laid there.

A good thing is that a lot of nesting areas are usually protected and people aren’t allowed to interfere in the process so humans aren’t directly harming the eggs. Occasionally scientists will approach the nesting area to take temperature measurements and to count the eggs, but no eggs are damaged in the process.

An egg will need an incubation period of 60 days to produce a hatchling. Another very interesting thing to know about leatherback baby turtles is that their gender is determined by the temperature of the nest. If the temperature of the nest is warm then most baby turtles will be females, if the temperature is colder then most of the baby turtles will be male. The exact temperatures are unknown at the moment since no conclusive data has been gained from hatching eggs in an artificial incubator.

After the 60 days pass baby turtles will start getting out of the eggs and they will start digging their way out of the while and they will start making their way to the ocean. Depending on the time of the day when this happens there can also be a lot of birds that will try to eat them, usually, the night is a safer time for them to run for the ocean but they have no way of knowing this so they will go for it no matter the time of the day.

Even when they reach the ocean baby turtles are not very safe, statistics show that only about 25% of turtles will be able to resist their first days in the ocean. This is because they are very small and weak and a lot of them will fall prey to a lot of aquatic predators that are looking for an easy meal. Most of them are also not able to find enough food to survive. The diet of a baby leatherback turtle is very similar to that of adult leatherback turtles, the only difference is that they need less vegetation and more meat. Jellyfishes are usually the main source of “meat” for leatherback turtles, and since baby leatherback turtles are very small and lack the speed and strength of adult turtles they will have a tougher time catching and eating jellyfishes.

In their first days in the ocean, they will struggle a lot, but unfortunately easier times are still far away. Only 7 to 8 percent of baby leatherback turtles make it past their first year. During this first year, they will have to struggle a lot to find food and to stay away from predators in the ocean. But after about one year they will start to reach bigger sizes that will allow them to catch food a lot easier and to defend themselves from predators, actually when they reach an average size they will have very few predators in the ocean.

Fun Fact: Most male leatherback turtles will never walk on land again after they reach the ocean for the first time. Only very rarely there can be a male who might end up on the shore in search of a mating partner.

Population of Leatherback Turtles

Ok, so now that you know the lifecycle of a leatherback turtle let’s see how the leatherback turtles population stands in general

Overall the leatherback turtle population is not doing very well at the moment and it’s in a continuous decline. Leatherback turtles have actually been on the endangered species list since 1970 and since then there have been a lot of measures taken to increase their population.

An actual number of the entire population is really hard to know since most males almost never leave the ocean, only the females leave the waters to lay eggs. And as I said the number of babies that manage to reach the water once they leave the nest is irrelevant because very few will reach maturity.

Here are some numbers of the turtle population from the data that I’ve collected:

The largest population can be found in Gabon, West Africa, and they number between 15,000 and 42,000 leatherback turtles. The most recent estimates say that there are between 30,00 and 80,000 adult leatherback turtles in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Pacific Ocean hosts the second largest population of leatherback turtles in the world with numbers ranging somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000.

The Indian Ocean population is probably in the direst situation, the most recent studies show that there are less than 3,000 leatherback turtles living there at the moment.

At the moment there are less than 100,000 leatherback turtles in the world.

Even if you go after the most optimistic estimates the numbers very rarely go above 100,000.

The numbers that I’ve told you are gathered from various reliable sources, and after hours of reading raptors on the leatherback turtles population. Most of them give different numbers but most of them were in the same range so to give you the best numbers I made an average of the numbers that I’ve found.

There are a lot of reasons why the population of leatherback turtles is dropping and most of them have at their core human actions. Here is a list of some of the causes that have reduced the leatherback population:

Trading. For a lot of centuries sea turtles in general have been hunted for their skin, their shells and their meat. For a long time this was very common and not frowned upon, the good thing is that at the moment leatherback turtles are protected by law in most countries.Unfortunately even now there are people out there that are hunting the for monetary gain, but this is a very rare occurrence in most countries.
Boats. Boats, especially big ones can unintentionally hit turtles while they are sailing. Even if people are avoiding this it can still happen sometimes.
Bycatch. Occasionally turtles will get caught in nets that were placed there to catch fish. This doesn’t include only illegal fishing, but also legal fishing done by big companies that are catching fish for public consumption. The only good thing in this is that turtles can be rescued if they are found in time.
Egg Harvesting. Nests are occasionally robbed of the eggs inside them by people who want to sell or to eat them.
Nesting Beaches Alterations. A lot of the nesting places of leatherback turtles are usually open to the general population, and while people spend time there they will inevitably alter the place. Even if we don’t make fundamental changes to the beaches, the fact that people are nearby can make the place undesirable by turtles.
Ocean Pollution. One of the biggest problems represented by the ocean pollution, especially plastic bags. Because plastic bags can look like a jellyfish while in the water turtles eat them and this can be very dangerous for them. A study done in 2012 showed that almost 1/3 of the sampled population ingested a plastic bag at some point.
Global Change. If you remember the gender of a leatherback turtle is affected by the temperature of the nest. The fact that at the moment temperatures are rising means that there will be fewer and fewer male leatherback turtles each year, and at some point the entire male part of the population will disappear and shortly after the entire species will disappear.

At first glance, things might seem really bad for the leatherback turtles, but they still have some good things going for them.

As I said one reason why the leatherback turtles population is so low at the moment is that humans didn’t know how to handle things at certain times and the extinction of a species was something that didn’t preoccupy too many people. But right now people are generally more concerned about endangered species and the development plans that will help them increase their numbers, and this is being done right now for the leatherback turtles. A lot of countries that host multiple nesting grounds have plans that are being put into action to increase the population of leatherback turtles. Also, most countries have organizations that protect the nesting areas when the turtles are coming to lay their eggs.

Recycling is also something that most people are concerned about and this means that we are making sure that less plastic reaches the ocean and also that the plastic that is right now in the ocean is being collected so it will never hurt any animal ever again.

A great example of how the rescue efforts are going can be seen in Florida where the leatherback population that nest in the area has increased on average by about 10% since 1979. It might not seem like a very big percent but the fact that it’s an increase is a very good sign for the leatherback population in general.

The Second Biggest Turtle in the World

The second biggest turtle in the world is the well-known Galapagos tortoise. They are probably one of the most well-known species of turtles in the world and this is mainly due to their long lifespan and their impressive sizes.

The Galapagos tortoise usually reach sizes that are around 5 feet ( 1.5 meters ) in length and a weight of about 600 pounds ( 270 kg ) and they will live more than 100 years.

Some of the biggest specimens found reached lengths over 6 feet ( 1.8 meters ), weighted around 900 pounds ( 410 kg ), and lived up to 170 years.

While the Galapagos tortoise is not the biggest turtle in the world they are actually the biggest tortoise in the world. If you are not sure what the difference is between turtles and tortoises check this article out: What is the Difference Between Turtles, Tortoises, and Terrapins?

At the moment the Galapagos tortoises are not in a very good state either, their population has dropped significantly over the years and they are considered a vulnerable species. The fact that they are a vulnerable species is not as bad as being endangered but it’s a sign that measures have to be taken to prevent any harm and to help the population if possible.

Extinct Huge Turtle Species

At some point, earth was populated by a lot of huge animals and reptiles. For one reason or another those species have gone extinct, but we can still find fossils of this species that once lived on earth. One of those species is called Archelon and at the moment it’s considered the biggest turtle species that lived on earth.

The Archons were more than 13 feet ( 4 meters ) long and had a width of about 16 feet ( 5 meters ) and it’s presumed that they lived for about 100 years.

Leatherback turtles and Archelons have something in common that sets them apart from most turtles and it’s not only their size. It’s their softshells, the Archelons had a soft shell similar to that of present-day leatherback turtles.

At the moment there aren’t too many things that we know about the Archelons, but as science advances and as more fossils are discovered we will find out more about those great giants that once swam in the oceans of our planet.

Conclusion

So this article should cover everything that you should know about the biggest turtle in the world, the leatherback turtle. If the numbers of the population change I will update this article as soon as that happens, to make sure that you will have the most accurate numbers when you are reading this.

If you have any questions about leatherback turtles or turtles in general please leave them in the comment section and I will answer them as soon as possible. And if you liked the article feel free to look at other articles on this site.