Green Sea Turtle Hatchlings

About two months after the female Green Sea Turtle covers her eggs with sand, the baby turtles are able to break through their shells by chipping away with a temporary hard protuberance on their beaks called an egg tooth. This is a unique tool that serves one purpose and then regresses.

Emerging from the nest is a group effort. Working together, the hatchings scrape away the roof of the nest until they reach about an inch away from the top surface. The hatchlings nearest to the surface stop digging if the sand feels hot (indicating daytime). They wait to resume digging until the sand feels cool and safer to emerge by avoiding the harsh rays of the sun and possible predators. Once out of the nest, the hatchlings find their way to the ocean, by heading towards the brightest horizon.

These first steps are the most dangerous time in their life. The young turtles are about 1.75 to 2.25 inches long and weigh 1 ounce, and various predators such as birds and crabs wait to pick them off, resulting in a large percentage of turtle hatchlings never making it to the ocean. Upon reaching the ocean, juvenile turtles spend from three to five years in the sea as carnivores before they settle into a more herbivorous, shallow-water lifestyle.

Hawaiian green sea turtles take around 25 years to reach sexual maturity. Their long period of maturation helps to explain why it takes sea turtles so many years to recover from a substantial population decline. Females begin returning to their natal beaches every 2 to 3 years to lay approximately three clutches of 100 to 150 eggs.