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Writer's pictureJennifer J

Climate Change Is Having A Strange Effect On Animals, Such As Turtles


​Climate Change Changing The Sex Of Turtles

Climate Change is changing the sex of some species of turtles, when they are born. Usually every species of animals has a healthy mixture of females and males being born. However, Climate Change in the great barrier reef is turning green turtle populations, female, a new study shows. The study showed that the green turtles in the great barrier reef, were mostly born female. The study showed that over 99% of the species, was born female, in the Northern half of the great barrier reef.

The Southern half of the great barrier faired better. However, most of the green turtles were also born female in the Southern half of the great barrier reef; up to 69% of the turtles was born female there.

How Climate Change Affects Wild Animals

It shows that Climate Change is affecting wild animals. Climate Change is influencing and changing the sex of these species. This could have a negative effect in the future for these wild animals, as it could see a decline in their numbers, without a healthy balance of males and females to reproduce in the future. Basically, we are seeing male turtles becoming extinct in the Northern great barrier reef. ​It will mean in the future that less turtles in this region will be born, as there won’t be enough males and females.

Turtles

So, What’s It Got To Do With Climate Change?

What is causing these changes to the turtles, is rising temperatures. This includes rising sea temperatures and rising climate temperatures. The great barrier reef is already being hit hard with climate change. It’s effecting the reef. As the see temperatures rise, it is causing a bleaching of the reef – which is essentially killing of plants and harming animals. This includes the turtles.

The Great Barrier Reef And Climate Change

The great barrier reef is already suffering the deadly effects of global warming. It was reported last May that half of the reef is already dead in many areas of the reef. If nothing is done to halt global warming, then the reef could die. This would effect both vegetation and wild animals in this ecosystem. But it would also effect tourism in the region. The reef is one of the World’s tourism hot spots. Therefore, it would hit the economy, if there were no reef. What makes the reef so vulnerable, is that the corals (which suffers the bleaching), are really sensitive to rising temperatures. Just a slight rise in temperatures bleaches them.

​There were two mass bleaching events within several months of each other in 2017. It’s an indication that we need to take global warming much more serious.

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