Green Sea Turtle

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Green Turtles are the largest sea turtles with hard shells, measuring up to three feet long and weighing 350 pounds.

They get their name, not from a green color shell, but from the color of the fat in their tissues.

Unlike other sea turtle species, adult Green Turtles are primarily herbivores. Eating green ocean plant life turns them a green color.

Green turtles are found worldwide, living and nesting in tropical areas around the equator.

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) estimates population declines between 48% and 67% over the past couple of decades.

Their research also notes the problems inherent in calculating global populations. Consistent and accurate nesting counts across states over time do not exist.

Lack of definitive global population estimates, however, does not undermine the reliability of data from many of the regional population counts, and their explanations of counting techniques for the thirty two nesting sites included in their survey are transparent and replicable.

The regional data shows that most nesting sites are comparatively small, hosting either a couple hundred or a couple thousand females per year.

The largest nesting area on record, the Indonesian Berau Islands, has seen a decrease from 36,000 to 4,500 nesting females from 1940 to 1984.

Two areas lead the list of largest Green Turtle nesting areas.

The IUCN estimates that the Costa Rica (Tortuguero) population almost doubled, from 13,750 (1971-1975) to 24,076 (1992-1996).

The Western Pacific Ocean (Raine Island area) population had a fifty per cent increase, from 11,538 (1974-1979) to 18,000 (1995-2001).

© 2007 Patricia A. Michaels