Pets

Female black turtle's key to survival: storing sperm for up to 4 years

Elche, Alicante, Feb 9 (EFE), (Camera: ).- The key evolutionary feature that explains the survival of the black turtle is the female's ability to store male sperm for at least four years.Compared to the lifespan of human sperm which is just a few days, the black turtle (Testudo graeca) has an internal organ (spermatheca) that preserves semen in optimal conditions for up to 48 months.This means female turtles can make between two and three lays each spring (with an average of 3/4 eggs each) for four seasons without the need to mate.This quality of reserving male reproductive cells for such a long period has decisively influenced the fact this land species has survived for at least 5 million years.FOOTAGE OF TURTLES.SOUNDBITES OF EVA GRACIÁ ENVIRONMENTALIST AT UNIVERSITY MIGUEL HERNÁNDEZ OF ELCHE (UMH):“It was known that they (the turtles) were able to keep sperm for so long, but, until now, there was no research on the effects of this regarding the populations’ survival.” “We created a simulation, a computer model through which we model the behavior of individuals, demographic data: the turtles are born and later died, they reproduce...and they can move and make decisions, etc.”“We observed that if we invalidate their capacity of keeping sperm for several years -in fact, it is proved that they can keep it for four years- the populations become unviable, which means that their persistence is not possible.”