Natural Resources for Kids and Youth

Nature

 

How many turtle species are there in Virgin Islands National Park?

There is the Green, the Hawksbill and the Leatherback.
Click on the name of each turtle and complete the puzzle to learn what they look like.

The Green Sea Turtle can grow up to 400 lbs. You may see lots of them in our bays but they do not usually nest here.

The Hawksbill Sea Turtle is a smaller turtle only growing to about 150 lbs. They nest every two to three years and try and nest on the beach they were born on. Cool right? They nest up to five times in one year laying about 130 eggs each time.

The Leatherback Sea Turtle is the largest of the sea turtles weighing up to 1000 lbs. They get their name from its leathery like dark gray or black shell with whitish spots. They are the only ones with a soft shell. They nest every two to three years, four to seven times a season, and lay an average of only 80 eggs. These eggs take about 65 days to hatch. Guess what they eat? Jellyfish.
 

Angels
Did you know we have angels swimming in our waters?

See if you can figure out which fish is one of our angels.
Queen Angelfish Whitespotted Filefish (Cantherhines macrocerus) Sargassumfish (Histrio histrio)

Last updated: May 1, 2017

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Mailing Address:

1300 Cruz Bay Creek
St. John, VI 00830

Phone:

340 776-6201
Headquarters/Visitor Center phone contact Information. Visitor Center hours Monday-Friday 8:15 am to 1:30 pm.

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