The green sea turtle has populations in all of the subtropical and tropical oceans and seas, as well as significant populations in the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. Green sea turtles are endangered by the CITES and the IUCN and most of the countries in the world have laws protecting it. In addition to making it illegal to kill, harm or collect individual green sea turtles, there have also been laws passed to protect their nesting areas.
Green sea turtles have dorsoventrally flattened bodies, arms like paddles or flippers, a short neck and a head that is sort of beaked. The adult green sea turtle can grow to be as large as one and a half meters long and they can weigh up to nearly seven hundred pounds. The average green sea turtle weighs around four hundred and forty pounds. The snout of the green sea turtle has an unhooked beak and the upper jaw has a denticulate edge that is slight while the lower jaw's denticulation is serrated, stronger and better defined.
The Atlantic population of green sea turtles has been seen off the shores of Canada, the British Isles, the southern point of Africa and even Argentina. Their major nesting sites are in the Caribbean islands, the eastern coast of the United States and the eastern coast of South America. Costa Rica's Tortugero is home to one of the turtle's most important nesting grounds. The Pacific population of green sea turtles can be found anywhere from the southern coast of Alaska to waters off of southern Chile. They have been found in Japan and off of the Pacific coast of Russia. You can also see them off of the northernmost tip of New Zealand and even as far south as Tasmania. The most important nesting grounds for the Pacific green sea turtles are in Mexico, Hawaii, Australia and even Southeast Asia.
Of all of the species of turtles, the green sea turtles have had the most research done on them. Most of what scientists know about all sea turtles comes from studying the green sea turtle. Baby green sea turtles are carnivorous and feed on mini-nekton. As they get older, however, they develop a taste for sea grass and become herbivores. They are very selective about their mating and feeding sites.
After baby sea turtles hatch, they find their way to the water and then spend the first five years of their lives in the open ocean's convergence zones. The adult turtles have very few predators or enemies as the only creatures who eat sea turtles are humans and large sharks. Younger turtles, however, are the prey of crabs, shorebirds and small mammals. The largest green sea turtle family nests on Ascension Island. Each year green sea turtles create between six thousand and fifteen thousand nests.
While most sea turtles spend the majority of their lives in the water, some of the Pacific green sea turtles will crawl up onto secluded beaches and sun themselves.
Pet Turtle Care Tip #1
Turtles are members of the Reptile family and they are some of the oldest living creatures on the planet. They have been around for more than two hundred million years. This makes them as old as the dinosaurs. There are hundreds of different kinds of turtles all over the planet.
Pet Turtle Care Tip #2
Sea turtles are the most popular of all of the turtles. These are also some of the largest creatures—some sea turtles can grow to more than six feet in length and weigh hundreds of pounds. Scientists think that sea turtles are actually land creatures that went back into the water and never came out. Over time their limbs evolved to make them stronger swimmers and to keep them in the water: their front appendages are actually flippers.
Pet Turtle Care Tip #3
All turtles, even sea turtles, are air breathing creatures. While some turtles can stay under the water for hours at a time, they all must surface at least once a day to stay alive. There is one turtle, the giant turtle that only has to surface once a day to take in air. There are some studies being done to see if some species of turtle might be able to draw oxygen from their cells much like some fish use their gills to breathe.
