Happy Thought for 19 August 2022

Have a Happy Thought:

 

Baby sea turtles are adorable!

(Karliux_/iStock/Getty Images)

 

An interesting fact is that the sex of the turtle is determined by the temperature of the sand their egg incubates in.

Hotter sand = more likely to be female on hatching

As in, sea turtles are not genetically determined to be male or female. (Nature is weird and awesome!)

 

Now, because of climate change and increasing temperatures in common turtle ‘hatcheries’ in Florida, we’re finding that more and more of the hatching turtles are female. Like, 99% of the hatched turtles tested this year.

Many researchers are not yet worried since sea turtles don’t exactly use a one-male-to-one-female breeding strategy.

But a species can only go so long with fewer and fewer of a required-for-procreation gender…

 

So this is one more bit of evidence of the unintended consequences of the way we have arranged modern society.

 

In completely unrelated news: local government elections are coming up in New Zealand, and mid-term elections are coming up in the US.

 

Thanks to an eagle-eyed (or turtle-eyed) reader for bringing this to our attention, with more information at https://www.sciencealert.com/climate-change-is-having-an-unexpected-effect-on-baby-sea-turtles

And if you think you may want to become a cheloniologist (sea turtle researcher), check out this interview: https://www.alieward.com/ologies/cheloniology