Green Sea Turtle

Green Sea Turtle

 The green sea turtle is a large sea turtle that is found through out the tropical and subtropical oceans of the world. They get their name from the green colored fat that they have beneath their shell. Green sea turtles spend most of their life in the water. Unlike many other species of sea turtles they are primarily herbivorous. The adults spend much of their time grazing in the kelp beds that are found in shallow lagoons. When grazing or sleeping they can hold their breath for a long time but when diving or exerting themselves they can hold their breath for only 4 to 5 minutes. Then they must surface to breathe. They can fill their lungs in seconds so that they do not have to surface for long. Life for the first few years is much different. Youngsters spend much of their time in the open ocean eating a lot more protein then the adults. They do not reach sexual  mature until they are 25 to 50 years old. In the wild they can live to about 80 years old.

Green Sea Turtle

The green sea turtle is a protected species through out most of the world. They are listed as endangered by several international organizations including the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. In the use they are listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act. In the wild the only predators the adults have are some of the larger sharks, specifically tiger sharks. The eggs, hatchlings and immature turtles have many more predators. Mammals often dig up the eggs that the female leaves on the beach. Crabs and shorebirds eat the hatchlings as they try to run into the ocean after hatching and marine mammals and sharks prey on the immature turtles in the open water. Man however is the largest threat. Boats and fishing nets can inadvertently kill turtles. Pollution and oil spills have a great affect on their population. There is also habitat loss, as people develop beaches that the turtles sometimes swim over a thousand miles to lay their eggs. I took these pics on the Big Island of Hawaii back in 2002. The turtle swam up to shore right in front of us as we were standing on the beach. 

Watery Wednesday: Endangered Green Sea Turtle

I have been spending some time over the past few days going through old pics. I was asked by a friend if I could provide some eagle photos for an eagle presentation at the Flint Hills National Wildlife Refuge in Kansas. So after going through my digital pics I decided to see what I might have that is still on film. I have only been shooting digital for about the past 3 years. Prior to that I shot on film for about 7 to 8 years. While going through my old film stuff I came across the pictures that I took in Hawaii back in 2002 and decided that I better get them scanned in before it is too late, the quality of the film cells is beginning to deteriorate on a lot of my older pics.
Some of the first pics that I decided to scan where these pics of endangered green sea turtles, since this trip was the only time in my life that I have seen sea turtles. Our trip to Hawaii was two weeks long and consisted of a week on Maui and a week on Oahu. We spotted this guy when we took a one day trip to the big island from Oahu.

The day trip began early in the morning when we left Honolulu and flew into Hilo. Then we got on a small bus and drove the circle around the island stopping from time to time to take in the sites. At one of the beaches that we stopped at Michelle and I were down by the water when this sea turtle swam right up to where we were standing. It was very cool.

Green sea turtles grow to be about four feet long and weigh in around 300 to 400 pounds. They are found in all tropical and temperate waters around the world. They live in bays or other protected shores of islands or continental coastlines. As adults they eat primarily algae and sea grasses and they are the only sea turtle that is strictly an herbivore. Since green sea turtles only nest every three to four years, or more, they are extremely susceptible to habitat loss and human intrusion. Because of this, and the fact that they and their eggs are still harvested in parts of the world, it is estimated that there are lest then 90,00 nesting females world wide which is why they are also listed as an endangered species internationally.