Huge Leatherback Turtle Washed Up On Beach Had To Be Moved By Digger

A turtle washed up on a beach near Barcelona last week, and it was so big it needed a digger to move it.

The leatherback, the largest living species of turtle, was reportedly 5ft 7in in length and weighed 1,500lbs.

It was unfortunately dead when found on Calella beach, but that didn't stop people taking pictures of the beast before an excavator was called to shift it, the Mirror reports.

It's the equivalent of three Andre the Giants. Credit: Viral Hog

It's allegedly the second massive turtle to be found on the Catalan coast in the past month, which could indicate that a lot more are in the area.

"We could have the great surprise of finding in the Mediterranean a nesting area for leatherback turtles," Arenys de Mar biologist Pere Alzina told La Vanguardia.

Using a digger the turtle was lifted onto the back of a truck which took it to the nearby Veterinary Faculty of the UAB, where a necropsy will be carried out.

In this case, the leatherback was reported to have been dead for a while, as Department of Agriculture officials claimed it was in an advanced state of decomposition, the Mirror says.

WWF say that leatherbacks migrate from nesting beaches in the Coral Triangle to places like the Californian coast, where they feed on jellyfish.

The number of the turtles in the wild has become less and less over the years, due to intense egg collection and fisheries, according to the Daily Mail.

As a result they are considered vulnerable and critically endangered in certain parts of the world.

Earlier in September another leatherback washed up in Mwnt, near Cardigan in Wales.

Rod Penrose, strandings co-ordinator for Wales, said: "They come up from French Guiana in South America to feed on jellyfish in British waters.

"This turtle would have been dead for a couple of weeks.

"It's not unusual to see them - this is the end of their feeding period and they are getting caught out by the cold conditions."

A lot of information regarding leatherbacks, including lifespan, is relatively unknown.

Mark McGowan

Mark is a journalist at LADbible, who joined in 2015 after a year as a freelance writer. In the past he blogged for independent football fan channel Redmen TV, after graduating from Staffordshire University with degrees in journalism and English literature. He has worked on campaigns such as UOKM8? and IIOC.