Climate change has lead to increasing extreme weather events in the past few years. While warming global temperatures may be the most well-known effect of climate change, it can also cause episodic periods of severe cold weather, which are known as polar vortexes. In mid-January 2024, a polar vortex swept across the United States, sending temperatures plummeting and shocking wildlife in Southern states that are unaccustomed to the frigid weather.
In Corpus Christi, Texas, 323 green sea turtles were found cold stunned in Laguna Madre. Sea turtles are ectothermic, which is more commonly known as being “cold-blooded”. This means that they do not have any internal physiological mechanisms to maintain a constant body temperature like mammals and birds. Instead, they must rely on external environmental or behavioral sources to retain heat. When temperatures are below an ectotherm’s ideal range, their metabolism slows and they become lethargic (Schulte, 2015).
When these cold snaps happen, the outside temperature changes so abruptly that the sea turtles do not have time to acclimate. They become cold shocked and are essentially immobile in the water, which leaves them vulnerable to pneumonia, collisions, and drowning. Luckily, wildlife biologists at the Texas State Aquarium and Padre Island National Seashore had been anticipating the polar vortex and had emergency hospital pools prepared for the turtles. Between January 16-19 2024, all 323 sea turtles were rescued, placed in rehab tanks, and treated based on condition.
The operation proved to be an overwhelming success. Most turtles were simply cold shocked, and by January 23rd, 275 of them were well enough after treatment that they were ready to be released back into the Gulf of Mexico. The remaining 48 are at the Sea Turtle Hospital on Padre Island to receive additional treatment and monitoring. The rescue would not have been possible without collaboration between the Texas State Aquarium, Padre Island National Seashore, NOAA, USFWS, Texas A&M University, and the Texas Sealife Center.
This story is personal to me because I grew up in Corpus Christi and participated in cold stunned turtle rescues when I was in middle school. As unfortunate as these events are, it makes me proud to see so many people collaborating to save these wonderful creatures.
This blog post is based on an article from The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (Gilsoul, 2024).
Photo credit: Texas State Aquarium