<h5>What causes climate change and what are its effects?</h5>  <p>Human activities like burning fossil fuels such as coal, gas, and oil are the main reason behind climate change. Burning fossil fuels produces greenhouse gases that act like a blanket being wrapped around the Earth. This causes heat from the sun to get trapped in the Earth’s atmosphere causing a rise in temperatures.
Climate change causes rising sea levels, melting of polar ice caps and glaciers, severe droughts, flooding, destructive fires, etc. In other words, it causes the temperature to be unpredictable and extreme - very hot, very cold, extremely rainy, etc.
While we understand how bad climate change is for us. We often fail to understand how climate change affects different animals. Sea turtles have been significantly affected by climate change! Let’s find out how.</p> <h5>How is climate change affecting sea turtles?</h5> <figure>
        <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/newsahoot.appspot.com/o/99-of-sea-turtles-born-female-due-to-climate-change%2F99-of-sea-turtles-born-female-due-to-climate-change-section1.jpg?alt=media&token=69b64ca4-ad1a-4362-897e-4af1e9b60c55" alt="How is climate change affecting sea turtles?" >
        <figcaption> Photo by Mike Brice / Pixabay.</figcaption>
      </figure> <p>The sex of the sea turtles is determined in a unique manner. Female sea turtles bury their eggs in the sand of the sea shore. The temperature of the sand determines the sex of the baby. Male sea turtles are born when the eggs are incubated below 27.7° Celsius whereas female sea turtles are born when the eggs are incubated above 31.5° Celsius.
Researchers have noticed that climate change is causing the temperature of the sand to become warmer. Due to this, 99% of the sea turtles that have hatched in Florida, United States (US) are female. Similar trends have also been observed in other parts of the world!
Imagine if this continues for a few years and there are no male sea turtles left at all. That would mean the extinction of sea turtles altogether because the females of the species will not be able to reproduce without the males.
It’s not just sea turtles whose sex is determined by the temperature. Even the sex of crocodiles, alligators, etc. is affected by it.</p> <h5>Oh! How do we stop this from happening?</h5>  <p>Scientists and researchers are hard at work trying to figure out how to balance out both sexes of sea turtles. A group of researchers has found that providing nesting sites on beaches under the shadow of palm leaves can help cool sand naturally. This can help bring about significant changes in the male-to-female ratio of baby turtles.
Most sea turtles lay a large number of eggs all in one place. Another group of researchers has suggested that eggs may be getting warmer since they are in a closely packed cluster. They suggest that a large cluster of eggs can be split into groups to help reduce temperature and increase the number of male turtles.
Another group suggested that eggs can be moved to a place where their temperature can be monitored. This way, steps can be taken to decrease the temperature of the area where the eggs are placed.
Isn’t it fascinating how climate change can affect something as remote as the sex of an animal? This discovery makes it even more important for us to help stop and even reverse climate change.</p>

The gender of the sea turtles’ babies is being affected by climate change in Florida, US. Let’s see why this is happening!

99% of Sea Turtles Born Female Due to Climate Change

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