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2mo ago

Male-Biased Tortoise Island Faces Loss of Last Female by 2083, Study Warns

Researchers tie a severe male skew to widespread injuries, prompting cliff escapes by Greek tortoises on a North Macedonian island.

Auf der nordmazedonischen Insel Golem Grad leben keine Menschen, dafür etwa 1000 Griechische Landschildkröten (Symbolbild).
Auf Golem Grad bedrohen zu viele Männchen das Überleben der weiblichen Schildkröten.

Overview

  • A peer-reviewed field study in Ecology Letters documents an extreme sex ratio on Golem Grad with up to an average of 19 males per adult female.
  • Males repeatedly ram, bite, mount, and stab females with a sharp tail spur, leaving roughly three quarters of females with genital injuries.
  • Harassed females retreat to cliff edges, with documented falls including a GPS-tagged adult later found dead below a cliff.
  • Compared with a nearby mainland population, females on the island show poorer body condition, reproduce less often, and have lower annual survival.
  • The origin of the skew remains unresolved, with the Macedonian Ecological Society noting the cause is unknown and a human introduction hypothesis unproven.