愈熱的夏天使得佛羅里達州新生海龜多為雌性
【摘要2022.9.11.日.自由】◎林雨萱
Florida’s sea turtles are grappling with a
gender imbalance made worse by climate change.
佛羅里達海龜奮力解決因氣候變遷導致惡化的性別失衡。
Recent heat waves have caused the sand on
some beaches to get so hot that nearly every turtle born was female.
近期熱浪導致一些沙灘的沙粒變得過熱，以至於幾乎每隻新生海龜都是雌性。
"The frightening thing is the last
four summers in Florida have been the hottest summers on record," said
Bette Zirkelbach, manager of the Turtle Hospital.
海龜醫院經理貝特．齊克爾巴赫說，可怕的是，佛州過去4年夏天是有紀錄以來最熱的夏天。
"Scientists that are studying sea
turtle hatchlings and eggs have found no boy sea turtles, so only female sea
turtles for the past four years," Zirkelbach said,.
齊克爾巴赫說，研究海龜孵化和蛋的科學家已經發現過去4年沒有雄性海龜，只有雌性海龜。
Instead of determining sex during
fertilization, the sex of sea turtles and alligators depends on the temperature
of developing eggs.
海龜和鱷魚的性別取決於蛋孵化的溫度，而非受精。
When a female turtle digs a nest on a
beach, the temperature of the sand determines the gender of the hatchlings.
當母海龜在沙灘上挖了一個巢穴，沙子的溫度決定孵化出殼的海龜性別。
If a turtle’s eggs incubate below 27.7
Celsius, the turtle hatchlings will be male, whereas if they incubate above
31C, they will be female.
一旦海龜蛋孵化的溫度低於攝氏27.7度，海龜就會是雄性；反之當溫度高於攝氏31度，就會是雌性。
新聞辭典
grapple with：動詞片語，盡力解決；設法克服。例句：Countries
around the world is grappling with the problem of pollution.（世界各國正在設法解決空氣汙染問題。）
hatchling：名詞，剛孵化出殼的動物。例句：After
the hatchling is brooded, the chick will fledge.（小雞孵化出殼之後，就會開始長羽毛。）
incubate：動詞，孵化。例句：The
bird incubates eggs for few days.（鳥類需費時幾天孵化雞蛋。）
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