What does the Green Turtle Look like?
The Green Turtle is the largest of the 6 marine turtle species living in Australian waters.
The Green Turtle is named for the colour of its body, not its shell. It has a small head and very strong front flippers.
Where does the Green Turtle live?
They are found in coastal waters, seagrass, oceans and coral reefs and Australia is one of the few remaining large nesting sites.
Fast facts:
- All marine turtles grow slowly and take at least 30 years to reach maturity.
- Adult Green Turtles are herbivores but the young will also eat crabs and jellyfish.
Green Turtle
The Green Turtle is the largest of the 6 marine turtle species living in Australian waters.
They are found in coastal waters, seagrass, oceans and coral reefs and Australia is one of the few remaining large nesting sites.
Green Turtles spend their entire life at sea, except for nesting females, which return to the beach to lay their eggs – the same area where they were born.
All marine turtles grow slowly and take at least 30 years to reach maturity.
Adult Green Turtles are herbivores but the young will also eat crabs and jellyfish.
The Green Turtle is named for the colour of its body, not its shell. It has a small head and very strong front flippers.
You can make your neighbourhood friendlier for Green Turtles.
Although Green Turtles don’t visit our backyards, they need our help to keep their habitat clean and healthy.
All marine turtle species are experiencing threats like pollution which impacts on their habitats.
We can all do our part in minimising the damage to our oceans and waterways.
Simple things that you do can make a huge difference to Australia’s animals. That’s why the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife is running Backyard Buddies — to give you tips to help.
What is a backyard buddy?
Backyard buddies are the native animals that share our built-up areas, our beaches and waterways, our backyards and our parks. The fur seal is a backyard buddy.
Backyard buddies are also the local people who value the living things around them and are willing to protect and encourage them by doing a few simple things around their own homes.
So you can be a backyard buddy.
Be a backyard buddy
It’s easy. All you have to do is care… and take a few simple steps.
Step one is to find out what Green Turtles do and do not like.
Green Turtles love:
- Their nesting beach – they return each year to the very same spot they themselves were hatched.
- Foraging for food – they can travel more than 2,500 kms between their favourite feeding area and their nesting grounds.
But they don’t like:
- Pollution – that contaminates their habitat and food sources.
- Feral foxes, feral dogs, feral pigs – which prey on their eggs and nesting females.
- Nets and fishing lines – if they get caught in these, it can lead to death.
Be a buddy to the Green Turtle
Try to:
- limit your use of plastic – turtles can be entangled in, or ingest, non-biodegradable items like plastic bags which find their way into our oceans.
- keep pesticides and chemicals out of your garden – the runoff can pollute turtle habitat and food sources.
Avoid:
- approaching nesting females or removing their eggs – Green Turtles are a protected species.
- throwing fishing gear and other rubbish into the ocean.
- releasing chemicals in waterways – most of them lead eventually to the ocean.
Don’t be surprised if:
- you see a Green Turtle pop its head above the water – they have lungs and must breathe air every half hour.
- you never see one! – they live in water and only come ashore to lay eggs.
Did you know:
- Green Turtles females lay a “clutch” of approximately 115 soft eggs that are round and the size of a ping-pong ball.
- Each nesting season she returns to the same beach to nest, an average of five times every two weeks.
