Cold-blooded turtles move towards the most comfortable climes, even while they are still embryos.
Wei-Guo Du at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and his colleagues heated the ends or sides of recently laid eggs of the Chinese pond turtle (Chinemys reevesii, pictured) for a week and measured the movements of the embryos by shining light through the shells. Embryos moved towards spots maintained at a balmy 29 °C or 30 °C, but shifted away from spots heated to a dangerously hot 33 °C. Only living embryos changed position, suggesting that the motion was due to the animals rather than to changes of viscosity in egg fluids. Although reptile embryos are generally thought to lack control over their environment, turtles inside eggs behave much like adults to regulate body temperatures, the authors say.
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For a longer story on this research see go.nature.com/8ixxah
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Turtle tots chase warm spots. Nature 498, 275 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/498275b
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/498275b
