Green Turtle Facts
- When born, green sea turtles are only 5 cm long. But they grow up to 1.5 meters in length and can weigh over 300 kg (700 lbs), making them the largest of the hard shell sea turtles.
- Over 80 countries in the world have green turtles nest on their beaches.
- Green sea turtles feed on crabs, jellyfish, and other creatures as juveniles. As adults they become herbivores, primarily eating sea grasses and algae.
- Green sea turtles are able to hold their breath for hours at a time
- They lay 100-200 eggs at a time and leave them alone for 2 months before they hatch.
Why They Are Endangered
Human action presents both intentional and unintentional threats to the species' survival. Intentional threats include continued turtling (hunting)(poaching) and egg harvesting. More dangerous are unintentional threats, including boat strikes, fishermen's nets that lack turtle excluder devices, pollution and habitat destruction. Chemical pollution may create tumors; effluent from harbors near nesting sites may create disturbances; and light pollution may disorient hatchlings. Habitat loss usually occurs due to human development of nesting areas. Beach-front construction, land "reclamation" and increased tourism are examples of such development. An infectious tumor-causing disease, fibropapillomatosis, is also a problem in some populations. The disease kills a sizeable fraction of those it infects, though some individuals seem to resist the disease. Because of these threats, many populations are in a vulnerable state.
What People Can do to Prevent This Problem
People hunt these turtles and harvest their eggs. This makes their population go down quite a bit and this isn't even the worst part of why they are endangered. These turtles also get a few diseases that can kill them. Also when there is beach construction this can ruin there nests which doesn't make the population any bigger, it definitely makes it go down. People shouldn't do construction during nesting season. Another reason why they are endangered is when they get caught in fisherman's nets. Fisherman should be aware of whats around them when they are fishing.