The Green Turtle

Among the US Virgin Islands' fauna there is a fascinating creature: the green turtle. It's currently listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The green turtles continue to be heavily exploited by human. The indiscriminate destruction and loss of nesting and foraging sites is a serious problem.

The green turtle can be found throughout all tropical and sub-tropical oceans. They can be found also, in the U.S. From Texas to Massachusetts. However in the US Virgin Islands there are important and protected nesting sites. There the female green turtle emerge at night to deposit eggs, the process takes an average of two hours. Sea turtles spend almost all their lives submerged, but must breathe air for the oxygen needed to meet the demands of vigorous activity. With a single explosive exhalation and rapid inhalation, sea turtles can quickly replace the air in their lungs. The lungs permit a rapid exchange of oxygen and prevent gases from being trapped during deep dives. Sea turtle blood can deliver oxygen efficiently to body tissues even at the pressures encountered during diving. During routine activity, green and loggerhead turtles dive for about four to five minutes, and surface to breathe for one to three seconds.

The hatching success of undisturbed nests is usually high, but on some beaches, predators (and sometime humans) destroy the nests. Also a lot of the nests are destroyed by inundation an erosion.

The green turtle migrates long distances between feeding grounds and the nesting beaches. Their expected live span is almost 80 years in the wild.