Is global warming increasing Japanese turtlehead count?
Turtles arrive onshore at record pace on Kagoshima’s Yaku Island
Mainichi Japan – July 19, 2008 / KAGOSHIMA – Sea turtles are coming ashore at a record pace at landing and spawning spots on Yaku Island in Kagoshima Prefecture this year….spawning spots in Miyazaki, and the Fukuoka Prefecture city of Fukutsu…
Sources familiar with the marine creatures say the increase in numbers could be a result of a northward shift in ocean currents. They also say that conservation efforts appear to have paid off...more...
Officials at the Sea Turtle Association of Japan said that large numbers of turtles have been seen at other major spawning spots across Japan because the warm Kuroshio Japanese current in the Pacific Ocean has moved northward because of the warming of the oceans. In addition, there’s a tendency for turtle spawning to occur earlier and longer when the water is warmer.
When Japan’s loggerhead turtle eggs incubate, the temperature of the turtles nest determines the sex of the offspring. This means that egg clutches laid in warmer places tend to produce more female turtles—And with more female turtles, there are more eggs being laid resulting in this sea turtle baby-boom.
J-Factiod: The title of this report, “Japanese turtlehead count,” is a slightly off-color joke. In Japanese, the characters for “turtle head” — kitou–is the medical term referring to the head of the male member.
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