From a recent Times atricle...

The only survivors in the wild of an order of reptiles that scampered with dinosaurs could be wiped out because climate change will turn them all into males.

The gender of tuataras, an ancient type of reptile with three eyes, is determined by the temperatures that the embryos are kept at when in the egg. Global warming means that the reptiles, regarded as living fossils, face the threat of dying out in the wild because of a terminal shortage of females.

Only males will be born in nests where the eggs have been kept at temperatures of 22.25C (72.05F) whereas females are guaranteed only at temperatures lower than 22.1C.

Modelling showing the likely impact of climate change on the last remaining homes of tuataras showed that the last female could hatch by 2085 for at least one of the two surviving species.

With climate change, average temperatures are expected to rise by up to 4C (7.2F) by 2085, which would be enough to ensure that all the North Brother Island tuataras, Sphenodon guntheri, are hatched male. The other species, the Cook Strait tuatara, S. punctatus, could follow soon afterwards.

The reptiles have coped with climate change in the past but their range is now so limited, being restricted to a few islands, that they are unable to migrate to cooler areas to protect themselves.

The article goes on to quote Michael Kearney, of the University of Melbourne:

“Tuatara are ancient animals. Their ancestors were scurrying around the feet of dinosaurs. It would be a great shame to lose them,”

Both surviving species of tuatara are from the sphenodontian family that first appeared more than

'nuff said

And yes, this is the third in my 'force for good' 'nuff said' series of blogs - collecting absurd, downright scarey and bizarre stuff from the world we live in.  As Peter Finch's character, Howard Beale, so memorably stated in the film Network:  "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"   And as I' can't resist saying, 'nuff said!