The Green Sea Turtle | Breeding and Nesting

Depending on where the green turtle live and what the diet consists of, it can take more than 20 years for a Green Sea Turtle to reach maturity and be able to breed. However, the maturity stage is anywhere between 10 and 24 years. Both male and female Green Sea Turtles will migrate from their feeding grounds to the courtship areas. Females nest every two to three years. Female Green Sea Turtles swim very long lengths to get from their feeding sites to nesting grounds, while males never leave the water. Sandy beaches are a common destination for nesting grounds for Green Sea Turtles. The nesting process involves the female turtle leaving the sea and choosing a high area in the beach to lay her eggs. The nesting process lasts between one to three hours. It is interesting to note that females often use the same beaches to nest as their mothers and grandmothers. These beaches are usually tropical or subtropical.

Breeding season for Green Sea Turtles is contingent on latitude. As mentioned earlier, they breed every two to three years. This means that can nest up to five times in one season. On the other hand, male Green Sea Turtles venture to breeding areas every year in an attempt to mate. Mating seasons differ between turtle populations. Green Sea Turtles in the Caribbean often mate from June through September.

These areas are located close to the nesting beaches where the turtles where first hatched. Some turtles actually live close to a courtship area, but it’s interesting that they often will migrate to another courtship area, even though it means they have to travel a great distance to reach it.

The Green Sea Turtle reproduce in the same way that other sea turtles do. When the female turtle leaves the sea she drags herself up the beach until she finds a suited place for a nest. During the nesting process, the females use their flippers to dig a pit in the sand. This happens in the night time. The female then lays her eggs in the pit and fills it with a clutch of 70 to 130 eggs. Each egg is about the size of a ping-pong ball. She then covers the pit with sand, ensures that there are no tell-tale signs of a nest, and returns to sea. There have been numerous observations of female Green Sea Turtles creating decoy nests in order to trick predators and keep their eggs safe. The female never returns to see her eggs hatch or watch over them. The eggs hatch after approximately eight weeks.

Depending on her age she will lay between 100 to 200 eggs. She then uses the flippers to cover the eggs with sand and returns to the sea. She will return to the same beach 10-20 days later to lay more eggs. Actually she can return several times during a season to lay several nests.

It takes 50-70 days before the eggs hatch. Just like other sea turtles the eggs will hatch at night and the hatchlings heads for the sea right away. Baby Green Sea Turtles make use of their “egg tooth” to break out of their shells. Baby Green Sea Turtles have a weight of about one ounce and are usually around five centimetres long.

The hatchlings look for the brightest spot on the horizon when they emerge from the nest. This s normally the sea reflecting whatever light there is in the sky. Now a dange-rous trip starts as they head for the sea. As long as they stay on the beach they’re prey for gulls, hawks, ghost crabs, vultures etc. Once they are in the ocean, the turtles become potential prey for octopi, sharks, and other large fish.

Because a large number of baby Green Sea Turtles or hatchlings are intercepted by predators at birth, this makes it even more critical to make every effort to save this creature. Both natural occurrences in nature and the carelessness of mankind have contributed to the endangered status of the Green Sea Turtle. These include destruction of coral reefs, harvesting of turtles for their leather, meat and shells, pollution of oceans by garbage and chemicals, a mysterious and deadly disease known as fibropapilloma, among many other causes.

Various predators such as sea birds and crabs are waiting every night to get a small snack out of the newborn sea turtles. Hatchlings are dark-brown or nearly black with a white underneath and white flipper margins.

The Green Sea Turtle are known to travel long distances between feeding sites and the beach were they hatched. It’s seen that some turtles even have migrated more than 2.600 kilometers to get to the right beach. Usually females take this trip every two to four years. Even though there hasn’t been that much documentation on the males, there are known examples that have taken the trip every year.