Share | facebook twitter instagram flickr flickr
DonateAdoptExplore
 

Daniel Monroe Goodman, Land O'Pines School

Monmouth County


Image of Atlantic green sea turtle.Atlantic green sea turtle. Daniel Goodman
The Atlantic Green Sea Turtle


Hi! I’m an Atlantic green sea turtle, or Chelonia mydas. After hearing about my species and me, you will know all about my species, which, sadly, is threatened. I will tell why Atlantic green sea turtles need protection, and what YOU can do to help.

To start, here’s what you should know about my species. Chelonia mydas live in high-energy oceanic beaches, feeding grounds in shallow, protected waters, or convergence zones in the pelagic habitat (1). My species is a carnivore, when we’re still children. When we become adults, we become harmless to other animals, and are herbivorous, eating sea grass, algae, and other plants. Now that you know a fact or two, you probably want to know why we’re threatened.

Well, my great species is threatened for a few reasons. Some of the Atlantic green turtles get a bad disease called fibropapillomatosis, a tumor near the eye. It can cause blindness and starvation, and possibly even death. Also, for I don’t know WHAT reason, some of us are killed by HUMANS for turtle soups and steaks. If you ask me, that’s just mean and disgusting!

By now, since you know about fibropapillomatosis, and how bad some humans are to my species, I’m sure you want to help the turtles, and me. Well, as surprising as it may be, some humans are not mean to us, and have made us protected by the federal Endangered Species Act, and the Hawaii state law. What you can do is NOT kill, or eat my species!! Seriously, it’s not like people need to eat Atlantic green turtles to survive. Also, I’m sure a lot of humans are fascinated by turtles. I don’t mean to brag, but you shouldn’t ruin it for your OWN species.

You should now know some facts about Chelonia mydas, why we are threatened, and what YOU can do to help us. I enjoyed telling you about the Atlantic green turtles. Hopefully, with the help of some nice humans, we will never become extinct.

Written by: Daniel Monroe Goodman
Land O’Pines School
Howell, NJ
Teacher: Mrs. Gladkowski

Reference:
1: http://www.turtles.org/atlgrnd.htm