Green Turtle Hand Puppet

Residing primarily in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, the Green Turtle is a famous Reef local. Up to 60,000 female green turtles congregate on the tiny Raine Island each nesting season.

A Green Turtle’s palate progresses through their life cycle, moving from carnivore to omnivore. This gradual shift has impacted the turtle’s skull morphology, developing serrated jaws for chewing algae and seagrass. By the time they mature into adults Green Turtles are mostly herbivorous, causing the green pigmentation they are renowned for. Green Turtles travel enormous distances and are excellent navigators, using sunlight and temperature to determine direction. These unique turtles have brains that work like magnetic compasses, sensing the Earth’s magnetic field and using it to return to old nesting and foraging grounds from thousands of kilometres away. Adult males can breed every year, but females migrate from their foraging areas to nest every 2 to 5 years. Female Green Turtles lay about 100 eggs per nest and will nest every two weeks over several months before leaving the nesting area and returning to their foraging grounds.