How long do sea turtles generally live, what do they eat, and are they mammals?

The sea turtle belongs to the order Testudines, the family Cheloniidae, and the genus Chelonia. It is distributed in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Today we are discussing how long do sea turtles generally live? What do they eat to grow up? Are they mammals?

1. How long do sea turtles generally live?

According to reptile records, the sea turtle has a maximum lifespan of about 150 years, and can grow to more than 1 m in length, with the male carapace measuring 840 mm long and the female 460 mm. The snout is short and round, the front end of the upper jaw is not hooked, and its horny inner surface has two vertical ridges; the lower jaw is slightly hooked upward, the jaw margins have strong serrations, and the chewing surface has a central ridge formed by short pointed tooth-like projections connected together. The top of the head bears symmetrical large scales, with 1 pair of prefrontal scales.

2. What do sea turtles eat to grow up? Are they mammals?

Sea turtles live in the ocean their whole lives. They feed on fish, cephalopods, crustaceans and seaweed. They are not mammals. The breeding season runs from April to October, when male and female sea turtles often mate in reef areas or coastal waters; mating lasts as long as 3 to 4 hours. After mating, the female turtle climbs ashore onto the sandy beach at night, digs a pit and lays her eggs. She first uses her forelimbs to dig a large pit about as deep as her body height, settles into the pit, and then, using her hind limbs in alternating movements, digs an "egg pit" about 20 cm in diameter and 50 cm deep, in which she lays her eggs. Egg-laying generally takes place from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. the next morning. After laying is complete, she covers the egg pit with sand and leaves the beach to return to the sea. Each year she can lay eggs 23 times, with 91 to 157 eggs per clutch, and up to 238. The eggs are white, spherical, with a leathery, tough and soft shell, and measure 35 to 58 mm in diameter. The incubation period is 30 to 90 days, usually 45 to 60 days, and the hatchlings crawl back into the seawater to live as soon as they emerge from the shell. In China, the coast of Huidong in Guangdong Province and the coast of the Xisha Islands in Hainan are both sea turtle egg-laying and breeding grounds.

[Functions and Indications]

Sea turtle shell: nourishes yin and moistens the lungs, reduces internal heat and improves eyesight; used to treat yin deficiency with internal heat, liver yang rising, dizziness and blurred vision, bronchitis, rheumatoid arthritis, burns and scalds, and cirrhosis.

Meat: bronchitis, failure to adapt to a new climate.

Blood: moistens the lungs and relieves cough; bronchitis, asthma, dry cough.

Gallbladder: clears heat, drains fire, improves eyesight, relieves cough; red swollen painful eyes, asthma, bronchitis.

Eggs: relieves cough and calms panting; childhood dysentery, cough and wheezing.

Flippers: nourishes yin and subdues yang, stops bleeding; prolonged illness with weakness, night sweats, vomiting blood, leukopenia.

Whole body: nourishes yin and tonifies the kidneys, treats cirrhosis, chronic bronchitis, asthma, red swollen painful eyes, arthritis, bloody stool, and burns from fire and water.