Where can you spot them? Anywhere in the coastal waters of Bermuda. Green turtles are most popularly found among sea grass beds, and can commonly be spotted off Clearwater Beach and Daniel’s Head.
- Bermuda is the only place in the world where green turtle populations are thriving. They are an endangered species, hunted for their meat and frequently entangled in fishing line.
- Sea turtles have been around since the age of the dinosaurs, with a fossil record that extends at least one hundred and ten million years.
- Green sea turtles are named for the hue of their skin, not their shells.
- Though hatching sea turtles are very vulnerable and only a few survive to adulthood, the only real threats to fully-grown turtles are sharks and humans.
- Turtles have good sight underwater, but are thought to be near sighted on land. Their senses of smell and hearing are impeccable.
- Adult turtles sleep at night by wedging themselves in reefs, and can hold their breath for 4-7 hours.
- Female green sea turtles return to the same nesting beach where they were hatched, probably with the help of olfactory, magnetic, and celestial cues.
- The temperature of the sand in which eggs are laid determines the sex of turtles. Cooler temperatures produce male turtles, while warmer temperatures produce female turtles, and because of Bermuda’s cool climate in comparison to other turtle breeding zones, we will never have females returning to lay again.
- Young turtles are pelagic and are thought to spend the first years of their life in the Sargasso sea. At this time they are omnivorous.
- Bermudian green sea turtles are at the second stage of their lives, where they become vegetarians grazing on sea grass, and they can spend up to fifteen years here. After that, they move on to adult foraging grounds and reach sexual maturity.
