JAKARTA - The battle for 'gender' turtles in Florida, the United States has recently gotten worse. Previously there was a gender imbalance, now climate change, with the heat wave hitting some beaches so hot that almost every turtle born is a female.
"The scary thing is that the last four summers in Florida have been the highest-temperature summers on record," said Bette Zirkelbach, manager of the Turtle Hospital in Marathon, a city in the Florida Keys, a series of tropical islands that stretch from the southern tip of the state. Reuters 2 August.
"Scientists who studied hatchlings and turtle eggs found no male turtles, so only female turtles for the last four years," added Zirkelbach, whose turtle center has been operating since 1986.
When a female turtle digs a nest on the beach, the temperature of the sand determines the sex of the hatchlings. Zirkelbach said an Australian study showed similar statistics, "99 per cent of new baby turtles are girls."
Instead of determining sex during fertilization, the sex of turtles and crocodiles depends on the temperature of the developing egg, according to the National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
If a turtle incubates an egg with a temperature below 81.86 Fahrenheit (27.7 Celsius), the turtle hatchlings will be male. Whereas when they incubate temperatures are above 88.8 F (31 C), they will become females, according to NOAA's National Ocean Service website.
"Over the years, you'll see a sharp decline in their population because we don't have genetic diversity," said Melissa Rosales Rodriguez, a turtle keeper at the newly opened turtle hospital at the Miami Zoo.
"We don't have the male-female ratio needed to be able to have a successful breeding session."
Both turtle hospitals are also battling a tumor in turtles known as fibropapilomatosis, also known as FP. These tumors are contagious to other turtles and can cause death if not treated.
With the climate affecting the future of turtles and disease being so widespread, Zirkelbach saw the need to save every turtle he could and open more rehabilitation centres.
"Turtle Hospital was a first. But, unfortunately and fortunately, there is a need across Florida," Zirkelbach said.
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