Warming beaches threaten Yemen Sea turtles' future

On a Yemeni beach, a sea turtle clambers ashore to lay eggs, which will likely be born female due to rising temperatures, creating a gender imbalance that brings the threat of local extinction.

With sands made hotter by climate change, eggs are rarely yielding male turtles, which require cooler temperatures during the incubation period.Studies in several coastal regions of southern Yemen "have shown that there are 90 percent more female sea turtles than males.

The severe gender imbalance will continue until it brings about the complete extinction of sea turtles in Yemen in the years to come. The proportion of males had "decreased considerably" in recent years and most baby turtles are female due to the change in temperature, said an environmental activist. The gender imbalance is getting worse each year as longer periods of extreme heat hit the Arabian Peninsula, one of the world's hottest regions.