Leatherback turtle washed ashore in Cork

A leatherback turtle was washed up dead along the shoreline in Ballycotton, County Cork yesterday. Irish Marine experts will be investigating the reptile and making tests to determine the cause of the rare turtles death.
The leatherback turtle, is thought to be a mature adult and said to be between 10 and 12 feet long.
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Leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) are the largest of the seven species of marine turtles found in the world's ocean today, and is the world's fourth largest reptile, behind the larger crocodiles. The leatherback is unique among sea turtles in that they rarely approach land except during the nesting season. Females mate every three or four years, returning to the beaches where they themselves hatched, to deposit their eggs. The turtles swim thousands of miles every year from their feeding grounds to beaches where they lay their eggs.
Leatherback's mate at sea and the males once born will never leave the water once they enter it as hatchlings.
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The leatherback turtles normally spend their time swimming in warm tropical waters, and are a difficult creature to study. The leatherback is known to regularly come close to Ireland, especially towards the gulf stream flow that laps the coast of Cork and Kerry. It is thought they come to the Irish sea to feed on jellyfish shoals, the staple food of the leatherback turtle.

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Leatherback turtle washed ashore in Cork