Shades, sun cream and snorkels at the ready, gang! Join us as we get the lowdown one of our ocean’s incredible reptiles with some great green sea turtle facts

green sea turtle facts

Fast green sea turtle facts

Scientific name: Chelonia mydas
Family name: Cheloniidae
Classification: Reptile
IUCN status: Endangered
Lifespan (in wild): Up to 80  years
Weight: 65-130kg
Body length: 1-1.2m
Diet: Herbivores
Habitat: Ocean
Range:

green sea turtle facts

Green sea turtles are one of the world’s largest species of turtle, weighing around 65-130kg and measuring between 1-1.2m long. They have a strong, tear-drop shape shell, called a ‘carapace’, which covers most of their body, except for their head and four flippers. Their carapace can include shades of different colours, including dark brown, green, olive, yellow and black.

If you love this article, you'll love our Ocean Activity and Colouring Book is written on the post, which shows a book called Ocean Activity and Colouring Book, as well as a blue jellyfish

So, why are they called “green” sea turtles, then? Well, these cool creatures are named for their layer of green fat that lies under their shell. Scientists believe this unusual quirky-coloured fat is the result of their veggie diet – unlike most other sea turtles, the green sea turtle eats marine plants such as seaweed and sea grass.

green sea turtle facts

These top turtles can be found nesting along the coastline of more than 80 countries around the world, with the largest nesting populations found in Costa Rica and Australia. But they like to spend most of their lives underwater, where they can rest for up to five hours at a time before coming up to breathe. When feeding or travelling, however, they pop up to the surface every three to five minutes for a few seconds of air, before diving back down.

Did you know that we have a FREE downloadable Turtle conservation primary resource? Great for teachers, homeschoolers and parents alike!

green sea turtle facts

Similar to other sea turtles, such as the leatherback and loggerhead, green sea turtles migrate long distances between their feeding grounds and their mating-nesting sites, with recorded distances longer than 2,600 kilometres – that’s further than London to Athens in Greece! Super-strong swimmers, they propel through the water using their strong paddle-like flippers. And whilst these awesome animals like to cruise along at around 3km, if threatened they can reach speeds of up to 35km/h.

You'll love our educational magazines for all ages! is written on the post, which shows a book called Oceans Find It! Explore it! which has a clownfish on the front

Adult green turtles breed by the beaches where they were born. Females usually travel thousands of miles from their feeding grounds back to their ‘natal’ or ‘hatching’ beach every two to four years, where as males may make the journey annually. After mating in the shallow waters offshore, the female crawls onto the sandy beach, digs out a nest with her flippers and lays a clutch of about 115 eggs. She then covers the eggs with sand and returns to the sea.

green sea turtle facts

After about two months, the babies will use a special “egg tooth” to break their shells and hatch from their eggs. But when they do, the race is on, and they must immediately make a treacherous journey across the sand to the water, avoiding predators such as birds, crabs, wild dogs and lizards along the way!

The first few years of a green sea turtle’s life are spent floating at sea, where they feed on plankton. As they grow older, the turtles move to shallow waters along the coast, such as bays and lagoons, where they find sea grass to eat.

green sea turtle facts

For decades these, these awesome aquatic animals have suffered due to hunting, over harvesting of their eggs, loss of nesting beaches and pollution. Fishing also poses a danger, too, with thousands of sea turtles accidentally caught in nets and other equipment every year. Today, green sea turtles are classified as an endangered species and we need to do all we can to protect them! To find out how you can help, swim over to wwf.panda.org

Credits – Green sea turtle on the sand on the ocean floor: Dejan Sarman, Dreamstime. Green sea turtle swimming above coral on the ocean floor: Aquanaut4, Dreamstime. Green sea turtle on a beach: Steffen Foerster, Dreamstime. Green sea turtle closeup on the ocean floor: Richard Carey, Dreamstime. Green sea turtle above coral: Simon Gurney, Dreamstime. green sea turtle swimming underwater. Idreamphotos, Dreamstime. 
Likes

LEAVE A COMMENT

THANK YOU

Your comment will be checked and approved shortly.

WELL DONE,
YOUR COMMENT
HAS BEEN ADDED!

COMMENTS

  • DaBirb

    I LOVE TURTLES

  • TurtleTim21

    i like turtles

  • e

    awesome so using this animal for my test

  • Belle

  • siennaemilia11

    I LOVE THE GREEN SEA TURTLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Tree

  • This is the best website ever thank you so much

  • abi

    awsome

  • finely

    cool

  • Eliana

    Wow

  • jasper

  • The blue devil

    Cool

  • Harper.andriske

  • Harper.andriske

  • Harper.andriske

  • Harper.andriske

  • Harper.andriske

  • WOW

  • abram

    TURTLES

  • eliza

    i love it

  • ToxicBrainz

    I love turtles

  • Baki

    Let's take action

  • Xavier

    this is for my school lol

  • cool

  • Awsome!

  • MM

    Awesome!

  • Jacob

    I love animals, especially sea turtles. I’m such a big fan of national geographic.

  • Jacob

    I love animals. Especially sea turtles.

  • Sea Turtles! | EYFS

    […] Green sea turtle facts! […]

  • Cool

    Cool

  • turtles

    save the turtles

  • save them now

    help them and save them

  • i love t

  • save them

  • Jeniffer

    Amazing!! Can't believe they are almost extinct!! :(

  • harlan

    save the sea turtles

  • I LIKE TURTLES

  • i like turtles

  • mia dog

    i like turtles

  • mia dog

    i like turtles

  • harlan

    save turtles now!!

  • mitch f

    i like turtles

  • mitch f 56a

    i like turtles

  • hj

    save the turtles

  • Yoongi

    I love turtles!!

  • Phoebe

    I love the Green Sea Turtles!

  • Phoebe Gibson

    I love Green Sea Turtles! They’re so cute

  • alex

    save te turtlesand the environment

  • hi

    please lets band together to save the turtles

  • Savetheturtles!!!!

    Help save the turtles!!!

  • El

    We have to save our animals!!!!!or........ they will die !!!!!!

  • Hunter

    People Are cool

  • Dejai

    i'm make a information report about them today and that is bad that they are endangered

  • Jmm

    Awesome site dude

  • Bob

    This is great

  • Madison

    This site is so helpful! I used this site for a project and i love it

  • more habitat

  • Karelina

    Wow

  • lololol

    awful

  • Nat geo kids!

    Hey kids how did you like the information about sea turtles? You know I love sea turtles their my favourite animal!

  • let's take actioon

  • Pipper

    OMG THE POOR SEA TURTLES

  • oliver28332

    I LOVE IT AND SOME SAD

  • willow hodgson

    this was awesome

  • Alexander

    that last part made it pretty depressing, I must say.

  • Sea turtles

    I ♥️ Sea Turtles!

  • Save

    The Turtles

  • hi

    great facts

  • Jamie

    Cool

  • Johnny

    I wanna help turtles

  • Help turtles

  • Cool

  • Cool

  • This really helped me!

  • Max

    Good

  • Sandy

    My favourite animal!!!!!!!

  • Babby

    L love turtles!!!!!!!

  • Vrish

    wow the green sea turtle is very awesome and wide travellers. the green sea turtle is even threatened by rubbish.

  • Courtenay_Oeltjen

    I love all animals! I would have to say the green sea turtles and sharks are one of my favorites though.

  • GreenGirl

    I love this article because I love sea creatures and I also love reading articles about them. This article is so interesting and I want more sea creature articles like this. I love reading these 'discover' articles on National Geographic kids because the articles don't have to much information and they don't have to little information either :)

  • kamrul

    thinks for helping me with my progect

  • Crazy girl

    This is AMAZING

  • Jacob

    Love this website. Such great information

  • Delilah

    Thats amazing how the green sea turtle can swim 2,600 kilometers!

  • Shark lover

    Random facts made me and my mum gasp and say:I had no idea that was true!!!!

  • Cecilia

    This really helped me with my research homework !! I recommend this 10/10 for sure!!

  • Alice

    So interesting

  • Sonia

    Thats amazing how the green turtle goes and takes a breath after 5 hours! I wonder how far can the green turtle go underwater?

  • josh

    these are cool facts

  • Jon

    I love it it is so interesting

  • Turtle

    Cute!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • celestine ayade

    very educational and cool never knew sea turtles were so cool

  • Isabella McKee

    Wow!

  • noahjameslily

    I am so happy that I am doing this to save marine life and it's so cool and I hate how all of . The people are doing this

  • bird

    wow! this is sooooo fascinating!!

  • 5M

    We loved this information report! It was very informative and gave us a new perspective on green sea turtles.

More Like Sea Life

Sea Life

Seahorse facts!

Grab your snorkels and join us as we get up close to these colourful critters…
Sea Life

Cheeky seal hitches a ride on a kayak!

What do you do if you’re a seal and you fancy a rest, while swimming out at sea? Well, hitch a lift of course!
Sea Life

14 facts about stingrays!

Discover the secrets of this fab fish…
Sea Life

Loggerhead turtle facts!

How much do you know about these beautiful sea creatures?