Within two hours they have laid their eggs and returned to the sea. But turtles don’t stay long on the beach. The beach at Poilão is patrolled by conservation teams during the peak of the nesting season (August to November), granting protection to the turtles that come ashore to nest. They spend the first three to five years in the vast open ocean,Īfter which they approach the coast to settle in areas rich in food.įor a green turtle, beds of seagrass and macroalgae are the typical habitats they seek for nourishment.įemale green turtles only reach adulthood at about 20 years old, at which point they return to lay their eggs on the same sandy beach where they emerged as hatchlings all those years ago.Īfter breeding, they return to their feeding grounds and take a much needed break from travelling, mating, making and laying eggs, which usually lasts about three years. When newly hatched green turtles emerge from the nest, they quickly crawl to the sea and soon disappear from sight. We concluded from our findings that meeting the challenge of protecting the sea turtles calls for international cooperation for conservation coupled with an understanding of the geographic connectivity that they create. Usifo Omozokpea / Frontiers in marine science These grand movements pose a major conservation challenge: how do we protect animals that cross international borders and can therefore experience varying levels of protection and human-caused threats?įeeding sites of West Africa green turtles. But protecting them is difficult, in part because they perform some of the longest migrations known in the animal kingdom. ![]() Green turtles are a key element of West Africa’s biodiversity heritage and contribute to the health of coastal marine ecosystems in the region. ![]() ![]() They also face threats from plastic ingestion and climate change.Īmong the seven species of sea turtles, the green turtle was historically the most exploited for human consumption. But in modern times, over-exploitation of sea turtle meat, eggs, cartilage, oil, and body parts, caused population declines and even local extinctions. Throughout human history sea turtles have played key roles in the culture and diet of coastal populations around the world. They even survived mass extinction events, including the one that saw the end of the large dinosaurs. Sea turtles have been swimming the world’s oceans and nesting on its beaches for over 120 million years.
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