Eggs can drown. #shorts #science #SciShow

Emma Dauster: Writer
Attabey Rodríguez Benítez: Script Editor
Luke Rosener: Fact Checker
Bonnie Meyer: Managing Editor
Savannah Geary: Editor, Associate Producer
Sarah Suta: Producer
Caitlin Hofmeister: Executive Producer
Hank Green: Executive Producer, Host
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[Richie_Godsil]

I was going to remark that it's odd that turtles didn't evolve to simply hatch underwater but I'm pretty sure turtles started out on the land and moved to oceans and became almost exclusively aquatic

[ceanicman]

Oh that is why they lay their eggs on land thanks Hank.

[StonedtotheBones]

There are actually charities that work to relocate sea turtle eggs when they're too far down the beach, and on ensuring other people don't eat the eggs. Or turtles.

[Stonewren]

Air has way more oxygen than water does.

Young fish and amphibians are built to survive in the low oxygen of aquatic environments, and the embryos in their gooey eggs can handle those oxygen levels too. They have low oxygen requirements and their eggs tend to be really tiny so the oxygen in the water doesn't have to penetrate very far.

But amniotes (reptiles/birds/mammals) evolved their cool amniotic sac because it meant they could lay their eggs on land without the eggs immediately drying out. This also let their embryos take advantage of the oxygen-rich environment of the surface world, the oxygen diffusing through the eggshell.

So if the egg of a reptile, bird, platypus, or echidna becomes submerged in water, the embryo inside starts to drown due to lack of oxygen. Not enough oxygen can reach the embryo deep inside, and the embryo's life support fails!

[Pike]

When you think about it, eggs taking advantage of oxygen rich air is the same reason whales can dive soo deep and hunt. Super oxygen rich air above water level we are polluting excessively.

[sholacola]

D-did they drown a ton of baby turtles "for science".... Oh no

[whtbobwntsbobget]

Calll me when you've figured out why sloths climb down to the ground to poop

[alexreid]

I highly recommend watching a video of turtles digging their nests. It takes them a comically long time.

[pedroff_]

That's why rotten eggs can (sometimes) float. The decomposition makes a ton of gas, which can escape through the shell, reducing the egg's weight and thus density

[miketacos]

Man, Sea Turtles can never catch a break.

[isuckatusernames]

a good way to protect them would also be to make seagulls go extinct.

[dianaphoenix]

Oh, I remember back in Cyprus when we saw the kareta kareta turtles (can't remember their name in English) hatch and the lot of us pushed the tourists away from the nests to let the babies go in a clean path towards the sea. X

[Christian-wump]

Omfg.. i literally always thought this guy looks exactly like John green the author.. googled it amd found out theyre siblings lol

[JohnCoffins]

Rising sea levels? Al gore said the ice caps would be melted by now and it literally hasn't changed at all.

[BobMotster]

Congratulations on 7 million subscribers! Well deserved.

[reversecentaur]

That could cause major problems. When our hardest animals start to die off imagine what would happen to the more valuable ones

[Kyopse]

Did you know that temperature decides sea turtle gender which is very bad because well yeah obvious reasons

[jordonchin]

I did a service trip to Costa Rica and we dug sand for a few hours so the eggs could breathe

[TheBudBoss]

We should make little laying stations where the turtles are so attracted to that they use them. They'd be safer, sturdy, and reusable.

[taylorbug]

Are duck eggs the same way? Or is it just temperature that matters for them? I lived on a pond when I was younger and one year the water levels got quite a bit higher than years before. A lot of nests were underwater. My friends and I went around with soup ladles pulling them out and placing them on higher ground. We always assumed they had gotten too cold because none of the nests hatched that ended up underwater.