Hello, my name is Squirt and I'm one of the last green turtles in the world! I have a hard, heart-shaped, brown shell with green and yellow speckled skin. I use my shell to help protect me against predators. I also have two pairs of flippers to help me swim fast.

Here is the classification of my family!

Kingdom: Animilia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Reptilia

Order: Testudines

Family: Chelonidae

Genus and Species: Chelonia mydas

Taxonomy

Us green turtles live all over the world in the warm open seas where it doesn't go below 68 degrees! I live right off the coast of Maui where there are lots of coral and plants! We are omnivores which means we eat plants like seagrass and seaweed. Sometimes we eat jellyfish too! Yum!

Location/Habitat

Map of where green turtles live in the world

Nesting/Reproduction

During nesting, my mom traveled hundreds of miles to the beach to lay eggs. She climbed onto the beach and used her flippers to dig a hole. Then she laid the eggs in the hole and covered it with sand.

Then me and my brothers and sisters hatched 2 to 3 months later. I had 130 siblings! We crawled out of our shells and hid until night. That's when we scurried to the water to avoid the hot sun and scary predators.

My siblings and I grow very slowly. In 17 years we will only grow about 30 inches! One interesting fact about green turtles is that from ages 20 to 50 we can reproduce! I take in a lot of salt when I eat and drink. My eyes are continuously running with tears to adapt to the excess salt!

Interesting facts & Adaptation

Sadly because of our pretty shell, lots of green turtles are being hunted and many nests have been raided for eggs. Other green turtles have been hit by fishing boats. Humans are hurting our species by building houses on some of our few nesting sites! Also because a lot of coral is dying due to increasing temperatures, lots of green turtles are dying too. Because of all of this, my species is now endangered! That means there are not many of my species left around the world!

Threats