Leatherback Turtle Skull Replica

$190.00

The Leatherback Sea Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), sometimes called the lute turtle, leathery turtle or simply the luth, is the largest of all living turtles and the heaviest non-crocodilian reptile, reaching lengths of up to 8 ft. 10 in. and weights of 1,100 lb.

Description

Leatherback Turtle Skull Replica measures 9.9 inches. Leatherback Turtle Skull Replica is museum quality polyurethane cast. Made in the USA. California Academy of Sciences specimen. 2-part skull (separate cranium and jaw). Our precise skull can be used as a teaching tool, museum skull exhibit, home décor skull, or office décor skull.

Leatherback turtles or Dermochelys coriacea 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. The Leatherback sea turtle or Dermochelys coriacea is the largest of living turtles.

They have a secondary palate, formed by vomer and palatine bones. The Leatherback turtle or Dermochelys coriacea does not have a visible shell. The shell is present but it consists of bones that are buried into its dark brown or black skin. It has seven pronounced ridges in its back and five on the underside.

Leatherback turtles or Dermochelys coriacea lay their eggs in the sand of tropical beaches. It is the only time they emerge onto land. Leatherback hatchlings look mostly black when looking down on them, and their flippers are margined in white. Rows of white scales give hatchlings the white striping that runs down the length of their backs.

Leatherback turtles or Dermochelys coriacea are carnivores that feed in the open ocean. Their main prey are gelatinous invertebrates, mainly jellyfish and salps. They are known to eat other kinds of food though, including small crustaceans and fish, cephalopods, sea urchins, and snails.

Leatherback turtles or Dermochelys coriacea can be found primarily in the open ocean. Leatherbacks follow their jellyfish prey throughout the day, resulting in turtles preferring deeper water in the daytime, and shallower water at night (when the jellyfish rise up the water column). This hunting strategy often places turtles in very frigid waters. One individual was found actively hunting in waters that had a surface temperature of 32.72 degrees.

Leatherback turtles or Dermochelys coriacea are known to pursue prey deeper than 1000 m which is beyond the physiological limits of all other diving tetrapods except for beaked whales and sperm whales.

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Additional information

Weight 3 lbs
Dimensions 9.9 in
Leatherback Turtle Facts:

Replica
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Superfamily: Chelonioidea
Family: Dermochelyidae
Subfamily: Dermochelyinae
Genus: Dermochelys
Species: D. coriacea
Binomial name: Dermochelys coriacea
Conservation status: Vulnerable – A vulnerable species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as likely to become endangered unless the circumstances that are threatening its survival and reproduction improve.