Did you know that temperature affects the gender of baby sea turtles?

According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the sex of reptiles, such as turtles and crocodiles, is not determined during the breeding period of animals but rather depends on the obtained temperature. The turtles will go on land to dig sand and hatch eggs. If the temperature in the sand is below 27.7 degrees Celsius, the baby turtle is male, but if the temperature in the sand is above 31 degrees Celsius, the baby turtle hatches as a female. According to statistics from the last four years, with hot weather, the hatchling turtle eggs did not find a male turtle, only a female came out. There are 7 species of sea turtles in total, and all eggs hatch more females when the weather is warm. In 2023, on the Space Coast in Florida, there were more than 52,000 turtles laying eggs, but it turns out that over 99 percent of these newly born turtles were all females. The weather is getting hot too fast for many animals to adapt, and so do turtles. This has caused a very small population of male turtles to affect the breeding of sea turtles, which may have a serious impact on extinction in the future.

At present, with this problem occurring, many groups of scientists are trying to lower the incubation temperature to increase the male turtle population by moving the eggs to more shady areas and separating the eggs into small groups to help lower the temperature of the hatch.

In addition, sunscreen companies and marine turtle conservation projects are interested in protecting sea turtles by building domes to help control the temperature on the beach. The domes built by local people are made of natural materials such as wood. This project reduces the temperature inside the sand containing the eggs to around 4 degrees Celsius. This innovation is considered a success and is seen as having a positive impact on the future of sea turtles.

As we can see from this, the global temperature is getting high, not just humans feeling hot, but also turtles and animals. Humans should be more aware of global warming to balance nature and enable all living things to live normally.