Endangered
Species Report: Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia)
by Caleb Brigman
A special thank you to http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/images/turtles/green_kissing.jpg
for providing this picture
General Information:
The animal I choose to do my report on is the Chelonia Midas
or better known as the green sea turtle. The green sea turtle provides a major
role in the environment by providing a food source. The green sea turtle
provides food for algae eating fish and other animals and in return the turtle
gets its shell cleaned. The green sea turtle’s environment is the ocean. They prefer the tropical parts of the ocean
where the water is warm and shallow so they can eat. (Green Sea Turtle) &
(Turtles of the world)
Physical Description:
The green sea turtle is an egg-laying reptile, which allows
it to fit into the Midas species. The green sea turtle has a hard shell to
protect itself from predators like sharks and barracudas. The green sea turtle
got its name by the color of the bottom of its shell, which has green spots on
it. Hence, the name the green sea
turtle.
Other:
The average life span of a green sea turtle is not known,
but it takes a longtime for the green sea turtle to sexually mature. It takes about 10-50 years for sexually
maturity. It is hard to tell the
difference between a male green sea turtle and a female green sea turtle until
they are sexually mature. The difference between a mature male and a mature
female is their tails. The male has a long thin tail and the female has a small
skinny tail. ( Species Fact Sheet Green
Sea Turtle) & (Green Sea Turtle)
Breeding Habits:
Every 2 or 3 years, the female green sea turtles lay about
115 eggs in each of their nests. (Fun fact: the eggs incubate for about 60
days.) The female lays their eggs at the same beach that they were born or
better known as the natal beach. When it comes down to who will protect the
eggs, neither the mother nor the father protect the eggs. The eggs stay in a
burrow camouflaged from predators. The gestation period of a green sea turtle
is every 15 days during the female’s pregnancy year, but they are not pregnant
every year. What is most surprising is the parents never nurse the green sea
turtle babies. When the eggs are laid,
the parents return to the ocean. (Green Sea Turtle)
Feeding Behavior:
The green sea turtles tend to eat in shallow areas inhabited
by coral and other aquatic plants. The green sea turtle loves to eat aquatic
grass. “The juvenile green sea turtles are carnivorous and they eat jellyfish
and other invertebrates”. (Earthtrust.org) The predators, such as sharks,
barracudas, and crabs, eat the baby turtles.
They are the green sea turtles most dangerous foe. (Green Sea Turtle)
Conservation Efforts:
The main reason the green sea turtle is endangered is because
of poaching. The green sea turtle was hunted for several reasons. Their shells make fine jewelry and
ornaments, their skin makes leathered goods, their meat and eggs were a food
source, and their fat was used as oil. The second largest reason they are
endangered is due to fishing accidents. This happens when a fishing boat
accidentally gets sea turtles in its nets, drowning them without even knowing
it. Up to 10,000 turtles die a year because of this. It is now required that
all fishing boats be equipped with TEDS or turtle excluder devices. There is
currently 70% of the green sea turtle’s original population left. ‘There is an
84 million acre preserve for these creatures, which was set up by President
Clinton”. All of this work is dedicated to protecting their population. I think
something else should be done to protect these creatures such as fining people
when they poach these turtles. (Clinton Proclaims Yellowstone of
the Sea) & (Green Sea Turtle)
Summary:
I chose to write about the green sea turtle because I’ve
always liked sea turtles. The green sea turtle is a valuable necessity to
biologist. I still believe there is still much to learn from these creatures.
An interesting, but very sad fact I learned about baby sea turtles is that most
of them don’t even make it to adulthood.
The newborn turtles do not crawl from their nest towards the ocean and
when they reach the ocean, predators await them. This is a sad thing to happen to these beautiful animals.
Sources:
http://www.earthtrust.org/wlcurric/turtles.htlm Green Sea Turtle
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/03/0310_030310_turtlelight.htlm
http://www.cccturtle.org/green.htm Species Fact Sheet: Green Sea Turtle
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2000/12/1205_clinton.html Clinton Proclaims Yellowstone of the sea
A Macmillan illustrated encyclopedia Animals- Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fish
Turtles of the world