Encountering inexperienced sea turtles of their pure habitats is a rare privilege. These sleek marine reptiles, at present categorized as endangered, face threats starting from the overharvesting of their eggs and looking to entanglement in fishing nets, ocean plastic air pollution and the lack of essential nesting habitats. Primarily inhabiting tropical and subtropical waters across the globe, these turtles provide vacationers uncommon moments of connection throughout expeditions comparable to Nat Hab’s Sea Turtles & Wildlife of Northern Costa Rica and our Final Australia Safari, highlighting the significance of conservation journey in defending these historical mariners.

Listed here are 13 inexperienced sea turtle information to know earlier than you go!

1. How huge are inexperienced sea turtles?

Inexperienced sea turtles are the biggest hard-shelled marine turtles on this planet. They will develop to five ft and weigh as much as 500 lbs.

2. What do inexperienced sea turtles eat?

Not like most sea turtles, grownup inexperienced sea turtles are herbivorous, feeding on seagrass and algae. Juveniles, nonetheless, additionally eat invertebrates like crabs, jellyfish and sponges.

3. Key hyperlink within the marine meals chain

Sea turtles fill an essential ecological function in ocean ecosystems by controlling prey species and themselves offering meals to bigger predators comparable to fish, sharks and birds.

4. What makes inexperienced sea turtles inexperienced?

The inexperienced sea turtle’s carapace, or shell, is often brown or olive. Their identify comes from the greenish coloration of the fats beneath their pores and skin, as a result of algae and grasses they eat.

5. Older than dinosaurs

Sea turtles are reptiles whose ancestors took to the ocean about 150 million years in the past. They’re one of many few species so historical that they watched the dinosaurs evolve and grow to be extinct.

6. No place to cover

Like different sea turtles, the inexperienced turtle can not pull its head into its shell.

7. How briskly can inexperienced sea turtles swim?

On land, turtles are sluggish, however within the water, their highly effective flippers permit them to swim gracefully at speeds as much as 35 mph!

8. Solar seekers

Sometimes seen sunbathing alongside seals and albatrosses, the inexperienced sea turtle is among the few marine turtles recognized to depart the water aside from at nesting instances.

9. The place do inexperienced sea turtles dwell?

Although marine turtles dwell in each ocean however the Arctic, inexperienced sea turtles dwell in tropical and subtropical waters and are generally discovered (besides when migrating) inside reefs, bays, and inlets.

10. Child inexperienced sea turtles face a harmful journey

Feminine turtles dig a pit within the sand, fill it with a clutch of 100 to 200 eggs and return to the ocean, leaving the eggs to hatch after about two months. Infants hatch at evening to keep away from predators, however many by no means attain the ocean.

11. Do sea turtles cry?

Inexperienced sea turtles possess a salt excretory gland on the nook of the attention. They could appear to be they’re crying, however they’re actually adjusting their physique’s water stability.

12. Boy or lady? The right way to predict

The gender of the hatchlings relies on the sand temperature. Much less dense, hotter sand decreases incubation time and leads to extra feminine hatchlings.

13. World Wildlife Fund’s work with sea turtles

WWF’s work with sea turtles seeks to cut back the lack of turtle habitat, the unfavorable influence of bycatch on turtles and unlawful commerce in turtle merchandise comparable to meat and eggs. WWF works to guard nesting seashores, promotes ecotourism at sea turtle websites that contain and profit native communities, lobbies for turtle-friendly fishing practices and helps regional and worldwide agreements to preserve marine turtles.