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Sea Turtles For Kids | All About Sea Turtles!

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These turtles are found nesting along the coastline of more than 80 countries, with the largest nesting populations found in Costa Rica and Australia.

Green sea turtles spend most of their lives underwater, where they can rest for up to five hours at a time before coming up for air. When active, they typically alternate between being underwater for a few minutes and coming up to the surface to breathe air for a few seconds. Green sea turtles are also known to sunbathe on land.

Unlike most other sea turtles, adult green sea turtles eat a primarily plant-based diet consisting of seaweed and sea grass. Scientists believe these green foods give the sea turtle's fat its green color. The shell of the green sea turtle is usually shades of a brown or olive color.

Similar to other sea turtles, green sea turtles migrate long distances between their feeding grounds and their nesting sites, with recorded distances longer than 1,615 miles (2,600 kilometers). They have strong paddlelike flippers that help propel them through the water.

Female green sea turtles leave the water in order to lay eggs on the beach and will choose the same nesting spot as where they were born. A female will dig out a nest with her flippers and lay a clutch of about 115 eggs. Then she'll cover the eggs with sand and return to the sea. After about two months, the babies will use a special "egg tooth" to break their shells and hatch from their eggs.

The first few years of a green sea turtle's life are spent floating at sea, where they feed on plankton. As they grow older, the turtles move to shallow waters along the coast, such as bays and lagoons, where they find sea grass to eat.

Adult green sea turtles face many threats, primarily from humans, including injuries from boat propellers, being caught in fishing nets, pollution, and poaching. Newly hatched sea turtles are also at risk of being hunted by animals such as birds, crabs, and raccoons as they move from their nests out to the sea.

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Green sea turtles are the world's largest species of hard-shelled sea turtle. While most individuals weigh about 300 to 400 pounds (136 to 181 kilograms), some can be as heavy as 440 pounds (204 kilograms). These turtles are found nesting along the coastline of more than 80 countries, with the largest nesting populations found in Costa Rica and Australia.

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Sea Turtles 🐢 | Disney Animals | Disney Junior

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VideoLink lets you share videos on YouTube easily, without distracting third-party content or advertisements.

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Sea turtles are turtles that live in the world's oceans. There are seven types of sea turtles: leatherback, green, flatback, loggerhead, hawksbill, Kemp's ridley, and olive...

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When born, green sea turtles are only 5 cm (2 in) long. But they grow up to 1.5 meters (5 ft) in length and can weigh over 300 kg (700 lbs), making them the largest of the hardshell sea turtles.

The dorsal shell of the green turtle, or carapace, is wide, smooth, and brownish-olive in color. The underside of the shell, or plastron, is yellow. Green sea turtles are so named for the greenish hue of their skin. Their heads cannot retract into their bodies, despite the common misconception that they can. Reaching speeds of up to 56 km/h (35 mph), their streamlined shell and paddle-like flippers aid in their ability to swim quickly and with grace.

Green sea turtles are able to hold their breath for hours at a time. Because they are cold-blooded, the temperature of the water affects their ability to hold their breath. In colder water they can hold their breath for longer.

With features well-adapted to sea life, their agile mobility underwater does not carry over to their travels on the beach. On land they move slowly, laboriously pulling themselves along with their flippers. But in general, green turtles only venture onto land to lay their eggs. Females lay eggs every 2-4 years once they are sexually mature.

To reach their nesting grounds, green turtles migrate long distances, traveling back to the beaches where they were born. After mating in the shallow waters near shore, female turtles climb onto the beach and lay their eggs in a pit. They lay 100-200 eggs at a time and leave them alone for 2 months before they hatch. Once the baby turtles hatch, they must crawl to the water and avoid a multitude of predators, including birds and crabs.

Green sea turtles make their home in tropical and subtropical oceans worldwide. There are two types of green turtles, the Atlantic green turtle and the Eastern Pacific green turtle. It is debated whether these are subspecies or completely separate species. Each of the populations has its own feeding and breeding grounds. Atlantic green turtles are found throughout the Atlantic Ocean, while Eastern Pacific green turtles are found in the Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Mediterranean and Black Seas. Over 80 countries in the world have green turtles nest on their beaches.

Green sea turtles feed on crabs, jellyfish, and other creatures as juveniles. As adults they become herbivores, primarily eating sea grasses and algae.

Conservation Status

According to the IUCN, green turtles are listed as endangered, and their numbers are decreasing. Green turtles are hunted and their eggs are collected by humans, a legal practice in some countries. Green turtles are also threatened by destruction of nesting areas and foraging areas in the sea. Sometimes green turtles are accidentally caught in fishing nets, further declining their population.

There are efforts to lessen the amount of turtles and eggs harvested in many countries. In addition, many countries are trying to protect the nesting and foraging grounds. They are protected under many treaties and laws.

What You Can Do to Help

Green sea turtles can use as many advocates as they can get. Make sure you do not purchase products made from this endangered species. Also, if you live an area that green turtles use for nesting, you can lead a community effort to protect the beaches they nest on.

Green Sea Turtle Distribution

Green Sea Turtle Resources

Blog Posts about the Green Sea Turtle

About the Author

P.A. Smith is a middle school Language Arts teacher. He is also a contributing editor of My House Rabbit.

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Green Sea Turtle Facts for Kids | Endangered Animals

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Did you know green sea turtles can hold their breath for hours at a time? Learn more green sea turtle facts at Animal Fact Guide!

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We were walking along the Wonderopolis the other day when we heard a little voice yell, "Let's make a run for it, !" We looked around and realized it was said by a baby in the sand. Suddenly, dozens of baby turtles came scrambling down the and headed quickly towards the water. "We made it!" they cheered, as waves carried them off to the sea.

Before we knew it, all the baby turtles were gone from the and it made us to investigate what kind of we saw.

Known to scientists as Dermochelys coriacea, the leatherback sea is the largest on Earth. The largest leatherbacks can grow to be as much as ten feet (three meters) long and weigh more than 2,000 pounds (907 kilograms). Most leatherbacks grow to be between four and six feet (1.2 and 1.8 meters) long and 650-1,100 pounds (295-499 kilograms).

Leatherbacks get their name from the look and feel of their , which is the section of their exoskeleton that covers the back. Unlike other sea turtles that have a hard, bony shell, the dark-colored of the leatherback is made up of a thin but tough layer of skin that feels .

The leatherback's also looks a bit like leather because of the thousands of tiny bone plates that exist under the surface. Unique ridges along the also give leatherbacks a hydrodynamic structure that allows them to move more easily in the water.

Despite their impressive size, leatherbacks aren't fierce predators. Their delicate jaws only allow them to survive on a diet of soft-bodied animals. That's why most leatherbacks eat only jellyfish.

Leatherbacks can be found in oceans all over the world. They're more widely distributed than any other . They can be found as far north as Alaska and as far south as the coast of South Africa. With their powerful front , they can swim thousands of miles across open seas.

Unfortunately, leatherback numbers have been in recent years. In most areas, they're listed as a vulnerable species. In the United States, they're listed as an endangered species. Scientists point to pollution as a major to leatherbacks. In particular, plastic bags can often be mistaken for jellyfish and harm leatherbacks when they eat them.

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We were walking along the Wonderopolis the other day when we heard a little voice yell, "Let's make a run for it, !" We looked around and realized it was said by a baby in the sand. Suddenly, dozens of baby turtles came scrambling down the and headed quickly towards the water.