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Nearly all the species of sea turtles are endangered, including the green sea turtle. Green
sea turtles are inoffensive and defenseless animals. They are unique among it species because
they are the only herbivorous ones. Green sea turtles are one of the few marine animals that
graze the sea grass pastures. Society should protect green sea turtles because they keep the sea
grass pastures healthy; the principal causes of their endangerment are long-term harvest of eggs
and adults on nesting beaches, incidental capture in fishing gear, water pollution, and a disease
known as fibropapillomatosis.
The adult green sea turtle is the only herbivorous sea turtle. It feeds on sea grass and
algae. However, a juvenile one will eat crabs, jellyfish, and sponges (Green Sea Turtle 1). It
species is the largest of all the hard shelled sea turtles reaching a length of three meters. Also, it
reaches a weight of up to 700 pounds. It is believed that its diet gives it its characteristic
greenish-colored fat, from which it takes its name. Moreover, it is the fastest swimming turtle
(Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) 2). It is unique among it species. Although it may be hard to
believe that its herbivorous diet help humans, it does.

Green sea turtles keep the seagrass healthy by constantly cutting it short, which helps it to
grow across the sea. They are a few animals who eat sea grass. Sea grass beds are important
because they provide breeding and development grounds for many species of fish, shellfish and
crustaceans. Without sea grass beds, many marine species humans harvest would be lost.
Because green sea turtles are disappearing, there is a decline in sea grass beds (Miller 2).
Humans should protect green sea turtles to keep the habitat of many other marine species. If sea

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turtles go extinct, there would be a serious decline in sea grass beds and a decline in all the other
species dependant upon the grass beds for survival.
Green sea turtles are in a constant race since the moment they are born. The most
dangerous time of a green turtles life is when it makes the journey from nest to sea. Predators,
including crabs and flocks of gulls, voraciously prey on hatchlings during this short scamper
(National Geographic 1-2). A couple days after leaving its nest, the baby turtle may reach the
open sea. Its journey through the open ocean may last several years. The sea contains plastic and
trash that people throw away. If the turtle decides to eat it, it would be a deadly mistake. The
turtle will also be surrounded by predators such as sharks, whales and even big birds during
those juvenile years. Also, humans try to capture them for food. Sometimes they do it by
mistake. Once the turtle reaches its adult life it will begin to eat sea grass. When it reaches the
age of twenty six, it will return to the place it was born to lay its eggs. Then, it will return to the
vast sea (National Geographic Explorer 1-3). Green sea turtles need protection since they are
in constant danger by contamination, hunters, and predators.
A female green turtle will reach sexual maturity at approximately 8.95 years old. Their
trend follows such that at intervals of 2 to 10 years, the female will migrate from their designated
feeding ground to their nesting rookeries. The travelling between these two areas can be
anywhere between 100 to 1000 km. The females will utilize many beaches but their choices are
specific and they can leave many suitable beaches desolate. In any one nesting season a female
has the potential to lay two to seven clutches of eggs, with each clutch consisting of roughly 100
eggs, after which they will return to the feeding grounds. It is unknown why but the females will
return faithfully to the same nesting sites, or rookeries, the following breeding season.

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In the breeding season the female will undergo a certain 'heat' period, which lasts between two to
four days, where she will become sexually receptive to male advances. The green turtle also
follows a form of 'courtship' prior to mating. The courtship consists of many actions and
expressions including floating high in the water, females will circle to face the male head-on,
participation in active pursuit and the pressing of hind flippers over the cloacal region.

The green sea turtle is a large, remarkable creature of the sea. They are found all over the
world. Their diet is varied, enabling them to travel anywhere in the sea. The egg laying process
of the female is meticulous and time consuming; the hatchlings are born on land and run to the
crest of the sea to begin their lives. The turtle has many predators from the bird that will attack
the eggs to the larger squid that will eat the small turtle in the sea. And then there is the man, the
green turtles largest predator, which will hunt the turtle, eat the turtle and kill it with the pollution
thrown into the sea.
The green turtles are found distributed throughout the world's oceans. There are found in
the eastern and western hemispheres and on beaches throughout the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian
Oceans. The Pacific Green turtle and the Atlantic Green sea turtle are of the same species, they
have basically the same length and weight. Since these two are over 3,000 miles away from each
other combined with the centuries of separation, evolution has left the two of them with slightly
different internal structures. Not only is their coloring a little bit different but also the Pacific
green turtle's limbs are much (Turtle Travels 2).
The Chelonia mydas has a complex life path which is difficult to follow as they involve
large spatial and temporal scales (Mills 2). It is much easier to keep track of female green turtles
as they come ashore during nesting season, males however rarely leave the ocean, thus most of

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the available research has been done on nesting females (National Geographic 2). It would be
beneficial to attempt to research more on the males, especially their fertility as it would be a
serious contributing factor to any conservation management plans.
Green turtles, and other species of marine turtles, use the Earth's magnetic field as a
source of directional information when travelling extreme distances. They learn the magnetic
topography of their feeding grounds and maintain a 'magnetic map' allowing them to return to
certain places visited before, it is not however the only directional aid used, they also use
unknown non-magnetic cues.
In Australia, the green turtles most frequented breeding sites are the Great Barrier Reef,
the north-west side of Western Australia and the Wellsley Islands (Broderick 5). The turtles and
their close relatives have been utilized for many purposes, including as a meat source, by costal
cultures over thousands of years, however recent research has shown that due to over harvesting
in the last four centuries, several populations have been driven to extinction and greatly reduced
others. Before the arrival of Europeans, it has been shown that green turtle populations were
controlled by food abundance levels, this density dependent effect would have naturally
regulated the populations. The decrease in turtle numbers since the Europeans arrival has been
estimated to have reached approximately 99%. The dramatic declines and extinctions are a result
of serious over exploitation (Mills 3).
The largest remaining green turtle rookery in the Atlantic basin is located at Tortuguero,
Costa Rica. Turtles were hunted by indigenous groups before the arrival of Europeans In 1596,
the region was described as an important sea turtle nesting area. By the second half of the 18th
century, Spanish maps identify the location as Tortuguero, meaning place of turtles (and

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English maps refer to Turtle Boca. Until 1963, egg and turtle collection were conducted under
license from the Municipality of Limn (Government of Costa Rica, 1928 and Government of
Costa Rica, 1953). Research and conservation efforts at Tortuguero have been conducted by the
Caribbean Conservation Corporation since 1959. The green turtle nesting trend 19711996 has
been described as encouraging (Bjorndal et al., 1999). For species with late maturity,
conservation actions aimed at reproductive females and nests need to last decades to produce
tangible results. The long-term efforts at Tortuguero provide an excellent opportunity to evaluate
the success of conservation action and policies on green turtle nesting. The green turtle nesting
trend and rookery size at Tortuguero have implications for the global status of the species as well
as for national and regional management. The rookery size is also relevant for the interpretation
of genetic composition data collected at green turtle nesting and feeding grounds. Long-term
conservation efforts can reverse nesting declines and offers hope that adequate management can
result in recuperation of endangered sea turtle species. Changes in legislation and conservation
efforts in other Caribbean nations may also have contributed to the increase in nesting. The
declaration of marine protected areas, strengthening of national and international legislation
throughout the wider Caribbean region have resulted in greater protection for green turtles and
their habitats and consequently have contributed to improve survivorship rates.
Green sea turtles are threatened by humans, predators and diseases. They are one of the
few species that help to maintain the sea grasses healthy. It is necessary to conserve such species
because without it the sea grass would disappear and many marine life would be lost. Also,
because they are a unique specie. Society should make an effort and take action for this
defenseless animals.

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Works Cited
Broderick, Annette C., et al. "Are Green Turtles Globally Endangered?" Global Ecology &
Biogeography 15.1 (2006): 21-26. Science & Technology Collection. EBSCO. Web. 14
Mar. 2015.
Miller, Gary. "Turtle Travels." National Geographic Explorer 9.6 (2010): 2. MAS Ultra - School
Edition. EBSCO. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.
Trong, Sebastian, and Eddy Rankin. "Long-term conservation efforts contribute to positive
green turtle Chelonia mydas nesting trend at Tortuguero, Costa Rica." Biological
Conservation 121.1 (2005): 111-116. Google Scholar. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.
"Green Turtle." Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia (2014): 1p. 1. Funk & Wagnalls
New World Encyclopedia. EBSCO. Web. 15 Mar. 2015.
"Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas):: NOAA Fisheries." (2014). Google Scholar. Web. 14 Mar.
2015.
"Green Turtles, Green Turtle Pictures, Green Turtle Facts - National Geographic." National
Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2015.
"Seagrass and Seagrass Beds." Smithsonian Ocean Portal. N.p., n.d. Smithsonian. Web. 13 Mar.
2015.

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