#green turtles

In Maui, Hawaii, green turtles bask in the sun

Photographer: Renee Capozzola

Excerpt from this EcoWatch story:

Endangered green turtles are having a problem. They're mistaking plastic pollution for the seaweed they survive on, according to new research from the University of Exeter in the UK and the Society for the Protection of Turtles in Cyprus, as Newsweek reported.

Green sea turtles use their eyesight to find food, so long, thin bits of green, black or clear plastic that resemble sea grass deceived many turtles. And, the younger they were, the more likely they were to mistake plastic for their dietary staple, study reported. The paper was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Black trash bags, fragments of fishing ropes and takeaway bags all have the potential to confuse turtles, the BBC reported.

"Previous research has suggested leatherback turtles eat plastic that resembles their jellyfish prey, and we wanted to know whether a similar thing might be happening with green turtles," said Dr. Emily Duncan, of the University of Exeter who was the paper's lead author, in a statement. "Sea turtles are primarily visual predators — able to choose foods by size and shape — and in this study we found strong evidence that green turtles favor plastic of certain sizes, shapes and colors."

The researchers studied of 34 turtles that had washed up on the beaches of the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus. They were able to look at the insides of 19 turtles. All of them had swallowed plastic.

One had swallowed 183 pieces of plastic, the BBC reported.

A blue blubber jellyfish is eaten by green turtles in Byron Bay, Australia. Adult green turtles are herbivorous but juvenile green turtles will feed on invertebrates like crab, sponges and jellyfish if the opportunity arises.

Green turtles devour the soft tentacles of a jellyfish in a shot from the action section by Scott Portelli

A baby green sea turtle rescued from a Sydney beach had eaten so much plastic that it took six days for the contents to be excreted, according to Taronga zoo’s wildlife hospital.

The 127-gram hatchling was found lying on its back in a rockpool near Sydney’s Tamarama beach. It was missing one of its four flippers, had a chip in another, and had a hole in its shell.

Carers said that aside from these injuries, the turtle appeared to be in good physical condition and had no trouble swimming.

“But then it started to defecate, and it defecated plastic for six days. No faeces came out, just pure plastic,” the Taronga veterinary nurse Sarah Male said.

“It was all different sizes, colours and compositions. Some were hard, some were sharp, and with some, you could tell the plastic had writing on it. This is all some of these poor little things are eating. There’s so much plastic around they’re just consuming it as their first initial food,” she said.

Male has described the turtle, which has returned to health and now weighs almost 400g, as a “bagel with flippers”.

Despite progress, it could be a whole year before he is released back into the wild and coastal waters.

Large green turtle - Front

[2016-pc-689]

WCS Library, New York Aquarium Postcards

This baby boom in Kenya is helping to save an endangered species

Good News Notes: “Tiny green turtles are scrambling to the safety of the ocean at Tiwi Beach on Kenya’s south coast. Every one that makes it is great news for their species, which is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It’s a perilous journey, but luckily for these hatchlings they have their own personal bodyguards – The Tiwi Turtle Police. This…