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Warming could increase sea turtle numbers, for now

Rising temperatures could lead to more female sea turtles but won’t affect population size, research from Swansea University (UK) finds.

Above a certain incubation temperature of about 29 degrees, most sea turtle eggs will produce female hatchlings.

Although the sex ratio will be altered the overall population size will not crash, at least for a few decades, because males breed more frequently than females.

The research has logged changing sand temperatures and sex ratios of loggerhead turtles at the Cape Verde Islands in the Atlantic, one of the world’s largest sea turtle rookeries.

Read more at Swansea University

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