Endangered Species of the World: Atlantic Sea Turtles
Monday, June 11, 2012 at 12:01AM
Sometimes the reason why a species is endangered has nothing to do with global warming, pollution, or illegal activity.
Sometimes it is health-related.
The Atlantic sea turtle is in such a fix. Scientists recently reported that the eggs of the Atlantic sea turtle seem to be infected with a fungus.
This fungus doesn’t just target turtle eggs. In fact, it is believed to be harming more than 100 different species, many of them plants.
Cape VerdeScientists found that one of the turtles’ most important nesting places in the world has become seriously infected. This nesting place is the beaches of Cape Verde off the west coast of Africa. The scientists were greatly discouraged because they thought they had been making progress in saving this endangered species.
The fungus lives in soil and enters the turtles’ eggs during their long period of incubation in the sand.
