Sea Turtles

FACTS ABOUT SEA TURTLES

• Earths most ancient creatures
• 245 million years (since the time of the dinosaurs)
• sea turtles cannot retract their legs and head into their shells
• they are marine reptiles
• 7 species

Sea Turtle Evolution

• land based then evolved to water
• lay eggs on land
• not all species were so lucky
• they have come so far only to be endangered by human destruction

Hundred and fifty, and still young, dude. Rock on.
-Crush from Finding Nemo

7 species of Sea Turtles

• leatherback sea turtle
• loggerhead sea turtle
• Kemp's ridley sea turtle
• hawksbill sea turtle
• flatback sea turtle
• olive ridley sea turtle
• green sea turtle

GREEN SEA TURTLE

Reproduction

• Adult males can breed every year
• Females can breed every 3-4 years
• Green Sea Turtles mating process isn’t well known due to the fact the mating occurs in the sea

Reproduction

• Female Green Sea Turtle’s prefer to lay their eggs on their own nesting beach.
• Females arrive at a beach to dig a hole and lay 75-200 eggs
• then covered with sand and hatchlings are left to fend for themselves

Journey back to Sea

• A great threat to hatchlings is light pollution near beach nesting sites.
• Light from homes & buildings confuse the hatchlings.

Adult Life

• Once hatchlings make it to the sea. It will be at least 10-25 years before they themselves can breed.

Habitat

• Green turtles primarily use three types of habitat:
• beaches for nesting
• open ocean convergence zones
• coastal areas for "benthic" feeding

Climate

• they’re reptiles; ectothermic
• they mainly go for warmer waters: equatorial and around the tropics

Diet

• In youth: omnivores; they eat everything (crustaceans, various worms, and seagrass)
• Even eat Jellyfish
• Adults: herbivores
• primarily eat seagrasses and algae

Predators

• as hatchlings, they are horribly vulnerable
• predators include various seabirds, crabs, and small mammals
• only about 1 in 10 make it to the ocean
• outside of humans and sharks, they have no natural predators

*pause*

How could you harm something this adorable?

Threats

• Harvest for Consumption
• Illegal Shell Trade
• Fisheries
• Marine Debris
• Artificial Lighting
• Beach Erosion/Activites
• Marine Pollution/Oil Spills
• Climate Change

Endangered

• They are slaughtered for their eggs, meat, and shells
• Fisheries capture fish/marine organisms by the thousands
• Plastic bags look like jelly fish in the water, common for them to ingest plastic mistakenly; blocks intestines

Question?

YOU can help them TODAY

How to Help

• Reduce the Amount of Plastic Garbage You Produce
• Tell People How Helium Balloons Harm Sea Turtles
• Reduce the Amount of Chemicals You Use

Review Questions?

• How many species of Sea Turtles are there?
• Where do the females lay their hatchlings?
• What is the most dangerous part of a sea turtles life?

Thanks for Listening