Green Sea Turtles

Green sea turtles are one of the oldest living things on earth. It has been here through the dinosaur times. It has lived on Earth for millions of years. Green sea turtles were once half of a dinosaur's body. Now they are smaller than they used to be.

Millions of green turtles once lived on earth. Now there are at least less than 1,000 green sea turtles in the world. Hawaiian green sea turtles are commonly found in the Hawaiian waters. It is hardly found in other bodies of water and other parts of the Pacific Ocean.

These precious creatures attract many people. They amaze people by their calmness and movements. These animals are very calm, gentle, and harmless. They were never known to hurt anyone before. Green turtles are also known as the calm turtle.

Green sea turtles aren’t really green, they are brown. They are known as green turtles because they eat green grass and the grass gives them fat. Their fat from the grass makes some people hunt them for food. And the reptile skin and hard shell attract people who want more money. The turtle's skin and shell can make beautiful items. These items are used for trading. This is one of the reasons why these turtles are almost gone.

Hunting turtles are now against the law. There’s a 1,000 dollar fine. It’s a crime to hurt them. These turtles are under the Endangered Species list.

Life Cycle

The green sea turtle has hatched out of its egg. It has entered the world. First thing they do is to enter into the water. But before they do, they may get chased by a big crab. It chases it for food. Some turtles turtles survive, but most don’t. Then they enter the water to explore their other new world. Suddenly they learn to use their flippers. They don’t really know how to hold their breath for a long time. Every few seconds they come up for air. New turtles have good eyesight in the water.

A few times, as they come up for air, they may get chased by a seagull. Every once in a while, within a group of turtles, one gets caught in a seaweed patch. They get stuck for a few months. As the turtles grow, so do their shell. On strong currents the little turtles are not strong and heavy enough to go through it, so they drift along with the current.

In a year they are able to hold their breath longer, go through currents, swim four times faster, and grow swimming muscles. They don’t grow teeth yet but they are able to eat seaweed. They spend two more months eating rich, wavy sea grass.
Several months pass by and they become one of the biggest creatures in the sea. Sea turtles are mostly found sunbathing. They like to rest by floating for hours. As they rest other creatures rest with them.

A turtle is fully grown when it reaches to about three hundred pounds. Soon eggs from females start to produce. Part of being a turtle, is getting caught in nets and trying to survive.

As their journey ends they finally reach land. There they mate and make more turtles. Then their life cycle goes on.

What should we do to save green sea turtles and other endangered species? It is hard to help them. In almost every country there is a law that you can’t hunt these animals. and there is a $1,000 fine. Hawaii is one of the places where many endangered species are found. Many of them are being hunted down. They are either caught in nets or traps.

These animals have help ,but not a lot. Groups all over the world try to save these animals from being harmed. Many of the animals have been saved. By knowing how many of these animals are still on Earth, they must put something on them to get the count of animals.

What can we do? I think to really help them we can have groups of different ages to go places every other weekend and count how much are left. That way it makes it easier to tell whether they are not endangered or endangered. People can also have fund raiser to make/get better homes for these animals. Then after they are raised well and counted you can let them free.

Monk Seals used to live near the Mediterranean Sea and the Carribean Sea. The last recorded Carribean Monk Seal was recently spotted in 1952. The Monk Seals live approximately 30 years and can reach nine feet in length. Females weigh up to 550 pounds, while smaller males weigh 375 pounds. Most Monk Seals are killed by sharks and eaten by other bigger fish. Some Seals are even killed by fishing nets that are used to capture dolphins. Monk Seals don’t really have a home they just roam around in the water and hunt for food. They usually sleep on Sandy beaches. They spend time hunting for food for their young. Their major habit is sleeping and swimming in the water.

Monk seals are native to the Hawaiian islands that is why we must take care of them. My report is about the monk seals and how they are killed. It also talks about how the mothers give birth to their young, how they feed them, and how they live on their own.

There were only three types of monk seals but now that the Caribbean seals have died, there are only two types that exist. Four seals were born on the Hawaiian Islands. Two births occurred on the North Shores of Kaua’i and Oahu.

When a pup seal is born, it is black in color and weighs about 30 pounds. The pup’s velvety skin is loose and clods the body like an oversized coat. The mother seal will nurse her pup for 5 to 6 weeks. During the time, the mother seal is constantly at her newborn's side.When the mother is taking care of her pup and feeding him/her, she does not go out to feed herself. At the end of the nursing period, the depleted mother will leave her young and go out for other nutritional needs.

The baby seal is called a weaner. When the mother leaves the weaner, it is by that time fat with blubber. It should be able to live off of the food for a while but then must learn how to catch food on it’s own. Monk seals only feed at night. They feed on fish, eels, octopus, and lobster. During the daytime they spend most of their time sleeping. When sleeping, they may look lethargic, dead or even sick. When on land, seals should not be approached or disturbed so they may feed as they may during the night time.

Between March and July, female monk seals give birth. The weaner feeds on the mother's milk for about 5 weeks. When the weaner is a couple days old, the mother will take it out for a swimming lesson. In the 1900’s monk seals were near extinction, but the numbers slowly increased when they were fully protected. Now in the Hawaiian islands there are over 1,000 Hawaiian monk seals. The Hawaiian monk seals like to remain on land and is one of the few mammals of Hawai’i that has been extensively studied. Hawaiian monk seals are most abundant on Kure Atoll, Pearl, and Hermes Reef, Lisianski island, Laysan island, French Frigate Shoals, NeckerIsland and Gardener Pinnacles and Ninoa island. The monk seal is usually found in the northwestern islands.

What would you do if Hawai’i had nothing but a bunch of tourists and Hawaiian people? I would move to the mainland. People in the mainland think that Hawaii is basically known for the animals. Which to most people we are. But pretty soon we’re going to be known for the extinct islands. The Hawaiian monk seals are getting to the point that when our grandchildren are born they won’t know what all these animals are.They’re going to want to do research on them but they can’t because there is none. Most of the children in Hawaii study projects about endangered species because they would like to find out what they can do to help save them. Soon it will be too late. There will be no Hawaiian animals. We do our best to see what we can do.

What can we do? I think we should have like a bay for different endagered animals with fish. That way it will be like the ocean except only in a bay. People can go to see how they’re doing. Sometimes people could take some monk seals out to sea to let it discover other parts of the ocean around the bay.