These are probably the most amazing and terrifying teeth ever but can you guess which animal they belong to?
The leatherback sea turtle which in some parts of the world is also known as the lute turtle is the largest living turtle on the planet. It is also the fourth largest modern reptile behind the three largest species of crocodiles. It is the only living species still living from the genus Dermochelys. Easily recognized from other sea turtles by its lack of a bony shell. The leatherback instead is covered by skin and oily flesh.
They have the hydrodynamic body design of any sea turtle. They have large pair of front flippers which power them through the water very efficiently and its flippers are the largest in proportion to its body of any sea turtle. The front flippers can grow up to a massive 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) in larger specimens.
When it comes to eating, instead of teeth the leatherback turtle has a beak of sorts which is filled with backwards spines that go all the way down its throat, this helps it swallow food and to stop its prey escaping.
These turtles can be truly enormous with adults averaging 1–1.75 m (3.3–5.74 ft) in carapace length, 1.83–2.2 m (6.0–7.2 ft) in total length and weigh between 250 to 700 kg (550 to 1,500 lb). In the Caribbean, they sometimes grow even larger, up to 850 lb) in weight and over 5 ft length the carapace. The largest one ever found was actually over 3 metres and weighed a staggering 2,020 lb found on a beach on the west coast of Wales in the UK.
Leatherbacks are also known as unique amongst reptiles because they have the ability to maintain high body temperatures using metabolically generated heat similar to mammals.
Leatherbacks are the deepest diving marine animals and have been recorded diving to depths of 1,280 metres (4,200 ft). Typical dives are between 3 and 8 minutes but some dives can be as long as with dives of 30–70 minutes.
Leatherbacks are the fastest moving reptiles and entered in the Guinness Book of World Records lists for moving at 21.92 mph in the water.
The leatherback turtles roam the worlds oceans from as far north as Alaska and Norway to as far south as the Cape of Good Hope in Africa and the southernmost tip of New Zealand. It is also found in all tropical and subtropical oceans with a range that actually extends well into the Arctic Circle.