Marine crocodiles are the largest reptiles in the world, they can exceed 6 meters in length and weight ton, they also survive in salted water and use ocean currents to travel hundreds of kilometers in the open sea.
Despite all their records, however, also i marine crocodiles are at risk due to global warming: a new study published on Current Biology It shows that the extreme heat has increased their average body temperature, and also that these animals spend more and more time over the day at the limit of overheating – with serious consequences on their behavior.
More and more hot … Like most reptiles, marine crocodiles are also ecolying, or if you prefer a more popular expression “cold -blooded”: Their internal temperature depends on the external temperaturethat these reptiles regulate alternating moments in which they are in the sun to warm up and others in which they cool each other in the water.
The problem is that the increase in global temperatures has been overlooking this balance: in the last 15 years, the study, theirs says medium body temperature has climbedand is increasingly close to 32 ° C – the limit beyond which they overheat and begin to suffer.
… and less and less time to eat. This means that Australian marine crocodiles spend more and more time cooling, reducing their activity and lowering the metabolism to reduce their body temperature. And the time dedicated to this “activity” (however passive) is time removed from other things – for example obtaining food.
The study also explains that marine crocodiles are somehow adapting to these new standards, also because they are already used to quite high temperatures. But the fact that they have less and less time to devote to daily activities could negatively impact their ability to go hunting, and therefore influence their survival rate, and on the health of the species in general.
