LEATHERBACK TURTLE
			Phylum: Class: Order: Family: Species: Chordata Reptilia Chelonia Dermochelidae Dermochelys coriacea

Leathery turtles are the largest in the world, and they differ from other marine turtles. Their upper shell consists of hundreds of bony plates embedded in their thick, leathery skin, whereas other marine turtles are covered in hard plates. Seven ridges run down the back of the animal, and five along the lower shell.

Leathery turtles grow to approximately 9 feet long (2.7 m), and weigh up to about 1,800 lbs. (820 kg). Long, broad fore-flippers propel these turtles through the sea. Their diet consists of jellyfish and other slow-moving soft-bodied sea creatures.

Females lay their eggs at night on warm, sandy shores. Each digs a pit with her hind flippers, and lays somewhere between 60 to 100 white eggs, around the size of small baseball. She then fills the nest with sand. The eggs hatch in about seven weeks, and the new-born babies race to the sea.