Climate change and habitat loss are threats to these animals, as well as diseases such as fibropapilloma. Green sea turtles are an endangered species that have undergone an estimated 90 percent population decrease over the past half century. A healthy individual can be expected to live 80 to 100 years. Birds, mammals, and other predators love feasting on the young turtles.įor green sea turtle hatchlings that reach the water, it takes at least 20 to 50 years to reach sexual maturity. The newly hatched green sea turtles are very susceptible to predators, exposure, and losing their way. A female green sea turtle can lay several clutches of eggs before she leaves the nesting grounds.Īfter about two months, the eggs hatch and the hatchlings make their way to the water. At this point, her role is complete, and she leaves her eggs to fend for themselves. Inside the hole, she lays 75 to 200 eggs and covers the hole with sand. Adult males can breed every year, but females only breed every three to four years.Ī few weeks after mating, a female green sea turtle arrives on the beach and digs a hole in the sand for her eggs. The males arrive in offshore waters first and wait for the females to come to the beaches. The breeding season occurs in late spring and early summer.

Less frequent nesting also occurs on the Atlantic coast in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.

In the United States, green sea turtles are most often seen on the Hawaiian Islands, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the east coast of Florida. They will travel long distances, even across oceans, to return to their preferred breeding site. Every time the females breed, they make a long migration back to their natal beach, or the beach where they were born. Green sea turtles stay in shallow waters until the breeding season. Instead it feeds on offshore plant blooms around islands and beaches. Once a green sea turtle hatches and heads into the ocean, it rarely returns to land. Though not well understood, these turtles are highly migratory and undertake complex movements and migrations. There are populations with different colorings and markings in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Green sea turtles are found around the world in warm subtropical and tropical ocean waters, and nesting occurs in over 80 countries.

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