One hundred years is a long time, but a sea turtle can live to be that old! Unfortunately the green sea turtle is endangered. Even though a female can lay 100 to 200 eggs at a time, only a few of them will survive to adulthood. Right after it is born, the baby turtle must dig its way up through the sand and head toward the ocean. It does this by heading toward the brightest horizon. If people who live along the beach have bright outside lights, the baby turtle can head in the wrong direction and die before it can get to the ocean. Its trip across the beach is also dangerous because it can be eaten by crabs or sea birds before it reaches the water.

Once the baby turtle enters the ocean, researchers are not sure where it goes, only that it floats on the currents among the seaweed for a few years, feeding on plants and tiny animals. After this time it returns to shallow water to feed on grasses and other plants until it matures. Young turtles are still very vulnerable; they can be eaten by large fish, sharks, and dolphins. Once they become adults, female turtles return to the same beach where they were born to lay their eggs. A female is usually 20 to 30 years old before she lays eggs, and she does so only every two to four years.

Even as adults, green sea turtles are not safe. The biggest threat to their survival is humans. Because humans have built homes and other buildings near beaches, turtles are sometimes not able to return to these beaches to lay eggs. In some places humans capture turtles for their meat, eggs, skins and shells. Sea turtles also die from accidentally becoming caught in fishing nets or from eating trash that has been thrown in the water. All the species of sea turtles that live in U.S. waters are considered endangered or threatened and are protected by the Endangered Species Act.