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| The Green Sea Turtle |
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata (vertebrates)
Class: Reptilia (Reptiles)
Order: Chelonia (turtles and tortoises
Family: Cheloniidae (true turtles)
Genus: Chelonia
Species: Mydas
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| Structure and shape of turtle |
Structural
and behavioural adaptations:
There are actually very few
structural adaptations to these creatures:
·
Due to the fact that
their neck and limbs cannot retract without assistance, a shell is provided
thus to support retract ability.
·
The forelimbs are
designed into long, paddle-like flippers for swimming.
However these marvellous reptiles
have very fascinating behavioural adaptations!
·
Green sea turtles have
'salt glands' that assist in getting rid of excess salt from their bodies. Salt
is excreted by what we might recognise as 'tears'. However, not from despair
but in action of getting rid of too much salt!!
·
The tears not also
assist in avoiding excess salt, but eyes free of sand while out of the water.
·
Thus the turtles feel
extremely vulnerable while on sand, females are the most common gender to haul
out of the water and lay eggs.
REALLY INTERESTING FACTS TO KNOW ABOUT THESE
SPECIES:
·
Green sea turtles can
stay up to five hours inside the water to look for prey! This means; in between
every heartbeat, there could be as long as nine minutes gap...
·
Green sea turtles have
particular bacteria in their stomach that assists them to break down sea
grass/algae that is eaten. This is to let mature/adult ones live as herbivores.
They attain this bacterium when young, from eating the parent's wastes!
Their diet:
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| These turtles also eat algae |
When young, these exquisite
turtles will tend to eat sponges, molluscs, jellyfish, fish and plankton, therefore
being omnivores. However, as mentioned afore, sea grass and algae will be able
to be eaten once attained the bacteria. Mature turtles only consume seagrass
and algae, hence, becoming herbivores. Their jaws actually become adapted to a
vegetarian diet! The types of sea grass may include as what will be known as
‘Turtle Grass’ and ‘Manatee Grass’.
Place in the Food Cycle:
Due to the fact that Sea
turtles (in common) have only a very few predators such as sharks, the Green
sea turtle would be counted to be as one of the most powerful, therefore, would
be one of the last However, the young ones are extremely vulnerable; when
sprinting towards the water, straight from hatching, anything from seagulls to
other sea birds can scoop them up as food.
How they reproduce:
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| Sprinting for the Sea! |
For this particular
species, a turtle sexually matures to mate/ and reproduce at the ages around
twenty to fifty years! Once mature, adults will tend to migrate from foraging
grounds to nesting grounds. Nesting is
extremely peak within months June and July. Males visit the nesting grounds
arrive once a year, while females turn up two to four years. Once mated, the
female will continue on her own, until a few weeks, where she moves out of the
water and into the sand to make a large nest for her hundred or so leathery
eggs. She will lay them; carefully cover them in sand and off back into the
water.
After two months of
incubation, the eggs will hatch and as a team, young ones will dash off for the
water to prevent themselves from predators. From then on, the hatchlings will
defend themselves, out of danger.
ASTONISHING FACTS!!!! :
·
It is believed that
the mother turtle will swim to her birthplace to lay her eggs!!
·
The gender of the yet
to be hatched turtles depends on the temperature of the eggs while incubation! -
Males usually hatch from lower temperatures while females hatch from higher
temperatures!
Migration:
As enumerated before, migration
of the Green Sea Turtles is mainly only used for reproduction, and then coming
back to their nesting homes. Males visit nesting grounds once a year, while
females visit every two to four years. Once Fertilisation is completed, mother
turtle will go off shore to lay her eggs and off she will go back to her
foraging grounds. This may take her 2,090 km too reach! This means going across
oceans (Atlantic Ocean, etc.).
Habitat:
Green Sea turtles live
in seas that do not fall below the temperature of twenty degrees Celsius, as
they prefer warmer areas to the cold. This means they can live in Atlantic,
Pacific and Indian oceans.
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| The distribution of Green Sea Turtles world-wide |
Though there aren’t
any predators for these huge creatures apart from sharks, there are many
man-kind and environmental threats to these harmless reptiles. Firstly, numerous
countries tend to count sea turtles as a type of dish, including the Chelonia, mydas.
It is considered that hatchlings can only find their way to the sea with the
reflection of light from the ocean. However, due to artificial lighting around
beaches from buildings and streets, many hatchlings seem to be lead to the
incorrect paths, and suffer harmful deaths from seagulls to larger birds as
their predators. Secondly, when ‘nourishing the beach’, much sand is released
into the beach. This can be extremely difficult for newborn turtles to finding
their way out from their loaded nests, leading to death in this instance too.
There are many other ways turtles are being killed unintentionally and also
intentionally by humans. As mentioned before, Environmental causes seem to take
part too, like erosion of beaches for example, cause inconvenience to the
habitats of these species.
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have reached the end of my research blog!
I HOPE EVERYONE HAS HAD FUN READING IT!
