Comparative Animal Behavior was a type of class that I have never taken before. I wanted to take a class that was different from the psychology classes that I have taken in the past. I enjoyed this class and feel like I have a lot more knowledge about animals and animal behaviors we see every day. I know understand the processes that happen biologically to induce the behaviors we studied. This class consisted of quizzes, tests, and a group project. My two other partners and myself research mating and foraging behaviors in green sea turtles. Below is the information that I researched and presented on over a Zoom conference call with our professor.
Slide 4:
Green Sea Turtles typically are located in warm tropical waters all around the world. There are reports of green sea turtle inhabitants in over 80 different countries. The main oceans in which they inhabit are the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean. As stated on the quote on the slide, “in the United States, green sea turtles are most often seen on the Hawaiian Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, and the east coast of Florida”. Green sea turtle habitats and nesting grounds are also located in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina, but are not as frequent as the more tropical locations listed above.
Slide 5:
We study migration patterns of green sea turtles not only for research purposes, but also a way to protect them during nesting periods. This way we know times of the year when females return to their nesting grounds to bury their eggs in the sand. By doing this we can evacuate that portion of the beach and set it up so predators like birds cannot attack and eat the baby green sea turtles when they are making their migration from the sand to the ocean. Many people volunteer during hatching periods to help swarm off birds or other prey to make sure the turtles are able to safely get to the water.
Green Sea turtle migration takes place in late spring and early summer. This point in time is the breeding season for sexually mature females. The females migrate vast distances to return to their preferred breeding ground. “Similar to other sea turtles, green sea turtles migrate long distances between their feeding grounds and their nesting sites, with recorded distances longer than 1,615 miles” according to studies by National Geographic.
There is also a theory that turtles are about to detect the earth’s magnetic field which helps them navigate back to the same beach every breeding season. The theory is that the females can sense the magnetic field and trace it back to the particular breeding ground no matter how far away they may have traveled from it.
Slide 6:
Green sea turtles will migrate to warm water in tropical and subtropical locations in between where they forage for food and their nesting grounds. This is seen in both males and females. Each returns to the area of beach they were born and proceeds to travel back there every breeding season to lay their own eggs. The green sea turtles will travel far away from where they were born to mature. Once they become sexually mature, they will head back to their birth region and breed.
Ted Talk:
This is an animated video recapping how the green sea turtles migrate and breed.
Kahoot:
This Kahoot is our interactive element. We took important facts from each PowerPoint slide and created multiple choice and true and false questions to test our audience on whether or not we were successful in teaching about green sea turtle migration, nesting behaviors, and feeding behaviors.