Turtles swimming to extinction in Malaysia as male hatchlings feel heat

Already under pressure from habitat loss and pollution, turtles face an existential crisis from the climate crisis’s record heat.

Redang Island, Malaysia – Under a full moon, a bulbous creature emerges from the South China Sea onto a quiet beach on the Malaysian island of Redang.

Watched closely by a team of volunteers, the green sea turtle moves slowly up the fine white sand to the top of the beach, using its flippers to dig into the sand before laying its precious cargo of eggs.

The watchers, from the Chagar Hutang Turtle Sanctuary in the northeastern state of Terengganu, creep close, recording the number of eggs and measuring the turtle as she nests on the sand.

“Redang is known for its turtles. We want to protect our treasure here,” Muhammad Hafizudin Mohd Sarpar, 24, a ranger at the sanctuary, told Al Jazeera a little later that night.

But such sights might soon become a thing of the past as Malaysia’s already endangered sea turtles face a new threat from the rising temperatures caused by climate change. Scientists in the Southeast Asian nation say the heat is warming the sand and disturbing the balance of male and female hatchlings the turtles need to survive.