— Al Ghayḑah (Yemen) (AFP)
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", said Jamal Baouzir, director of the biodiversity department at the University of Aden.
The severe gender imbalance will continue until it brings about the complete extinction of sea turtles in Yemen "in the years to come", Baouzir said.
