Leatherback sea turtle

Its lifespan is given as 30 years, with values up to 80 years, and it reaches sexual maturity at 13.2 years. The IUCN Red List assesses it globally as Vulnerable, a threatened category.

Weight

372.5 kg – 420 kgsrc for Weight

Length

up to 2.7 msrc for Length

Lifespan

30 yearssrc for Lifespan

Diet

Carnivoresrc for Diet

Longest recorded lifespan

80 years

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

marinesrc for Habitat

Egg incubation

61 dayssrc for Egg incubation

Young per litter or clutch

82.3 – 110src for Young per litter or clutch

Age at maturity

13 years – 13.5 yearssrc for Age at maturity

Litters or clutches a year

5src for Litters or clutches a year

Reproduction

Eggssrc for Reproduction

Active

Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active

Lifestyle

Marinesrc for Lifestyle

Conservation status

Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

The leatherback sea turtle is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.

1. LCLeast Concern
2. NTNear Threatened
3. VUVulnerable
4. ENEndangered
5. CRCritically Endangered
6. EWExtinct in the Wild
7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Vulnerable species.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classReptilia
4. orderTestudines
5. familyDermochelyidae
6. genusDermochelys
7. SpeciesDermochelys coriacea (Vandelli, 1761)

Synonyms Chelonia lutaria, Chelonias lutaria, Dermatochelys porcata, Dermocheles coriacea, Dermochelis atlantica, Dermochelys, Dermochelys atlantica, Dermochelys coriacea coriacea, Dermochelys coriacea schlegelii, Dermochelys porcata, Sphargis angusta, Sphargis coriacea, Sphargis coriacea schlegelii, Sphargis coriacea var. schlegelii, Sphargis mercurialis, Testudo arcuata, Testudo coriacea, Testudo lutaria, Testudo lyra, Testudo lyra, Testudo marina, Testudo tuberculata

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistITISTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

CompareLeatherback sea turtle vs Psephophorus terrypratchettiLeatherback sea turtle vs Maorichelys wiffeniLeatherback sea turtle vs Ueloca colemanorum

• An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
  Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
• Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
  Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
• Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
  Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
• ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles · CC BY 4.0 · v1-2
  Oskyrko, O., Mi, C., Meiri, S. et al. (2024) ReptTraits: a comprehensive dataset of ecological traits in reptiles. Scientific Data 11: 243. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03079-5. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.24572683.v4
• Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
• Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

@misc{leatherback_sea_turtle_2026,
  title = {Leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/leatherback-sea-turtle},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}