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We all take differently to the cold. Some of us simply don’t want to get out of the house, others get dressed and go about their day with determination, while others don’t mind it at all. On the other hand there are those that simply become lethargic and eventually freeze to death wherever the cold found them. But it happens, those are turtles. According to the Turtle Hospital in Marathon, seven cold stunned sea turtles were rescued in Florida.
Seven stunned sea turtles
The seven survivors were found in swimming in the Gulf of Mexico by some of the staff of a nearby aquarium. They are currently under treatment at the Marathon Turtle Hospital in Florida, where despite a couple of them dying, they are starting to feel much better.
Employees from the Clearwater Marine Aquarium found the seven younglings in waters with temperatures of 57 degrees Fahrenheit (13.8 Celsius), along with several other dead siblings around them.
Generally, the internal temperatures of sea turtles largely depend on their environment. If the environment turns too cold, the animals will become increasingly lethargic, moving slower and slower, and eventually dying of exposure.
The Turtle Hospital
Brought to Florida’s Turtle Hospital in Marathon, the young sea turtles had quite a rough night. One died during the first night, while a second died a couple of days later. Four of the animals, however, have already regained their appetites, enjoying squid in their tanks, while the last one is still struggling, but getting better by the day.
The biggest problem is that if exposed to low enough temperatures, sea turtles’ immune system tends to weaken, allowing fibropapillomatisis, a sea turtle-centric form of the herpes virus, to cause tumors to grow throughout their bodies.
If the turtles have no tumors growing on their insides, the doctor handling their recovery, which incidentally is also the hospital’s manager, says that the outside tumors will be removed once the animals are strong enough. The recovery time for the reptiles is estimated at between 12 and 24 months, depending on the severity of the fibropapillomatisis virus.
They will then be released at as of yet undetermined locations, as soon as the turtles make a full recovery.
But this isn’t the first time the Turtle Hospital has seen something like this, and by no measure the worst cases they’ve had. They usually receive between 65 and 175 turtles a year suffering because of cold temperatures, and most of them actually live.
Image source: Pixabay
