Main Habitats: Nest on sandy beaches. The juveniles may remain in tropical waters warmer than 26°C, near the coast, until they exceed 100 cm in curved carapace length. When adults, they are pelagic and live in open ocean, sometimes in temperatures below 10°C. There are very few sighting of males near the coast during the breeding season, only the females are near to the coast during the breeding season and go to the beach to nest.

Generation Length: The estimate of age to maturity for the species used by most authorities is based on a skeletochronological analysis by Zug and Parham (1996), that placed it at around 13-14 years. However, population-wide estimates of age are not currently practical and thus average age of parents are not known. Considering that most authorities agree that the life-span of leatherbacks is 30 years or more, then age to maturity plus one half of the reproductive life span (22 years) is taken as a reasonable approximation of generation length. If density dependence applies, the severely depleted status (see below) would argue that current growth rates are higher than natural and natural generation time may be longer than 22 years.

Degree of fragmentation: Genetic analyses have shown that the Pacific populations are very closely related, and distinct from those of the Atlantic, suggesting a degree of reproductive independence. However, the lineages in the two ocean basins are not as highly differentiated as found for analogous assemblages in other cheloniid species (Dutton et al. 1999).