Far away from the record of turtles

Scientists have recorded a migrant leatherback turtle traveling 20,588 kilometers from Indonesia to Oregon, USA, as one of the longest migrations of any vertebrate.

Leatherback turtles (leatherback turtles, scientific name Dermochelys coriacea) are the largest of all living turtles and widely distributed throughout the oceans. Regular adults will migrate from their temperate feeding areas to the breeding grounds in the tropics.

Scientists at the US National Marine Fisheries Service tracked a female turtle when it left its eggs, tagged in Papua, Indonesia, on its return journey to the offshore feeding grounds of Oregon. Animals were tracked for 647 days, over twice the distance between New York and Los Angeles.

The animal's journey has set a new record in sea turtles, and is among the longest recorded migrations in vertebrate marine animals.

So far, the farthest annual migration is measured in animals of 64,000 kilometers, between New Zealand and the North Pacific of the black albatross, a medium-sized seabird.

A leatherback turtle.(Photo: MSN)