The green turtle is the largest species of all sea turtles. As a result of extensive poaching, the green turtle population had decreased and has become a small percentage of what it once use to be. Man's capitalistic need for the turtle is in it's well desired eggs, flesh and shell. Despite many laws passed to protect the future of the green turtle, it is no longer present in many parts of it's once vast range.

Class : Reptilia

Order : Testudines

Family : Chelonidae

Genus and Species : Chelonia Mysdas

Average Length : Up to 5 feet

Average Weight : Up to 400 lbs

Diet : Crustaceans, fish and sea plants

Lifespan : 40-50 Years

Food, Feeding and Hunting : The turtle's diet depends on it's maturity. Because young turtles are poor swimmers, they generaly float and are found in sragassum grass where they feed on crabs, shrimps, other crustaceans, jellyfish and algae. While adult turtles feed mainly on eel grass, algae and other marine plants.In the Ecuadorian island of the Galápogos, green turles have been known to eat Mangroove leaves hanging above the water. With their sharp beak-like jaws, green turtles can cut through most thick vegetation.

Breeding : Mating takes place on the water's majestic and calm surface. After mating, the female instinctively finds the beach from where she hatched and returns there to lay her eggs. With her front flippers she digs a hole where she will lay a batch of up to 100 hard-shelled eggs about the size of ping pong balls. When she is finished, she begins to cover the hole back with sand and begins her journey back into the sea. The female lays several batches of eggs for only a few turtles from each batch survive. Many fall prey to ghost crabs, sea gulls, dogs, racoons, and especially man.

Distribution : Although it is found in most warm waters world-wide, the green turtle is presently missing from many areas. Some of the few most important rookeries now lie in Tortuguero, Costa Rica, Aves Island in the Carribean and Ascension Island in the mid-atlantic. They can be found from San Farncisco down to Chile and across to Japan and down to the southern tip of Australia.

Conservation : Although there are many laws to protect the existense and prosperity of the green turtle, man still widely poaches them. Man raids their nests and steals their eggs to be sold in black markets and cold-bloodedly hunts them at sea for tehir flesh and for their beautiful shell.

Did You Know . . . . .

• During the breeding season, the island of Ascension crowds with females attempting to lay their eggs.
• The sex of baby turtles is determined by the temperature at which they hatch. At 82 degrees F, hatchlings are all males, eight degress above taht and all hatchlings are females.
• It takes about 2-3 months after the female lays her eggs for the baby turtles to hatch.
• The green turtle has utilizes it's strong flippers to propel it through the water.
• Unlike land tortoises, sea turtles' heads are too large to be withdrawn into their shells.