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Meet the AnimalsGreen Sea Turtle
Green sea turtles are efficient swimmers, and very graceful in the water. They can swim as fast as 35 miles per hour (55 km/hour), and travel long distances at a time. They are also able to rest underwater for a couple of hours before they have to return to the surface to breathe. They take in a lot of salt from the saltwater they live in, and so they have a special salt gland behind each eye, from which they shed "tears" of the excess salt. And of course, like all reptiles, green sea turtles are cold-blooded, which means they have to soak up warmth from the environment in order to live, which may explain their preference for tropical waters. Green sea turtles lay their eggs on land, on warm sandy beaches. Biologists believe that the females return to the beach where they were born and lay their eggs there. Females don't mate every year, but when they do they can lay upwards of 100 eggs in a clutch. After she covers the eggs with warm sand, she leaves them, and when the young break free of their eggs, they are on their own. Most will die to predators as they emerge, but those who survive can live to a great age (it can take up to 50 years for a sea turtle to become sexually mature). Photo by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Return to Meet the Animals |
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The Green Sea Turtle is the largest of the sea turtles, and is among the largest living reptiles of any kind. They are gentle herbivorous creatures (eating only plants), and they like to stay in fairly shallow waters such as reefs and bays where there is abundant algae and underwater grasses for them to eat. Their name comes from the color of their body fat, which is green from all the algae they eat. 
