Snapping turtles rely on the sun to determine the sex of next generation
Whether the eggs develop into males or females depends on how warm they are in the nest.
As the sun melts the ice on ponds and lakes, an ancient creature emerges from the lake depths to take her first breath in 6 months. She's a snapping turtle — a living fossil that has hardly changed in 90 million years.
After a long winter hibernating on the lake bottom, the return of the sun's heat spurs her to leave the water, warm her body and start the next generation.
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She might be 100 years old or more, but that means she's more fertile, laying up to 100 eggs on the sandy shore. As the eggs develop, the sun influences what will hatch. Towards the top of the nest the sun makes the eggs warmer, causing the embryos to develop into females. But near the nest's bottom, where it's cooler, males develop. Soon, they all hatch and make their way to the water.
For these little hatchlings, there are some big challenges ahead. Only 1 per cent of snapping turtles survive to breeding age.
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