Weird Science | Animals Gone Wild

• Researchers have discovered that 99 percent of green sea turtles born in the northern parts of Australia's Great Barrier Reef are now female. Sea turtles' gender is determined by the temperature at which the eggs are incubated, and warmer temperatures reduce the number of male hatchlings. The author of a new study, marine biologist Michael Jensen, told The News York Times the shift in gender suggests climate change is having a more dramatic effect on sea turtle populations than scientists realized. "We're all trying to wrap our heads around how these populations are going to respond to those changes," he said. Researchers warn that continued global warming will threaten the persistence of these populations. [New York Times, 1/10/2018]

• Postal workers in the Rocky River suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, were unable to deliver mail to about two dozen homes for three weeks in December and January after being attacked by aggressive wild turkeys. Local ordinances prevented the city from eliminating the birds, so residents were asked to pick up their mail at the post office. Rocky River Mayor Pam Bobst encouraged residents to stop putting out bird food, hoping that would discourage the turkeys from hanging around. "There's a lot of bird feeders over there, so there's a food source in that area," she told Cleveland.com. The USPS said several carriers were pecked, but no serious injuries had been reported. [Cleveland.com, 1/6/2018]