Shortage of male turtles could be solved by splash of cold seawater

Life

Over 99 per cent of green turtles born on beaches in the northern Great Barrier Reef are now female due to nest overheating, but cooling their nests with seawater may help to rebalance the sex ratio

By Alice Klein

A turtle hatchling

Mel Staines/WWF Australia

Pouring cool seawater on green turtles’ nests may be a simple way to reverse a severe decline in male births that has been linked to global warming.

Over 99 per cent of green turtles (Chelonia mydas) that currently hatch on beaches in Australia’s northern Great Barrier Reef, which is home to one of the largest populations of the turtles in the world, are female.

This is thought to be because rising global temperatures are overheating their nests. The sex of marine turtles is determined by the …

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