So we don’t bother about the rising temperature, the polluted air or the forests getting turned into deserts. We would still like to believe that this entire issue of global warming is blown out of proportion and is nothing more than a sci-fi story. But now here is something that is even more terrible!
According to reports the rising temperature has been inversely affecting the sex ratio of the Tuataras. These reptiles are known as the ‘living fossils’ due to their antiquity. They have been here since the time of the dinosaurs. Although they have survived the most difficult times of the planet, now they are falling prey to global warming.
Like several other reptile species, the sex of a tuatara offspring is determined by the level of temperature. But this rapid rise in temperature around its habitats are now resulting in only male offsprings! So it would soon turn into a male only community incapable of reproducing. Not to mention that they are already very less in numbers and can be found only in certain islands of New Zealand. Their official conservation status is vulnerable and such developments definitely spell doom for them. According to some calculations if this trend continues, they will disappear by 2085!
Some ideas like putting shades around their nests to keep the temperature down have been suggested. But we have to see how many of them we can cover. Anyway, it is not just a case of one secluded reptile species. This is only an example of the totally unforeseen phenomena that can take place due to climate changes and threaten any species! What if similar thing happens to us tomorrow? We would probably devise some artificial ways to keep it going, but life would never be the same again!
Source Nature