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13 Surprising Scientific Facts About The Great Barrier Reef

The key to saving the Great Barrier Reef may lie in sperm banks. Coral sperm banks.

13 Surprising Scientific Facts About The Great Barrier Reef

July 30, 2021

To save the coral species in the Great Barrier Reef, scientists are collecting their sperm samples and putting them in a bank. Here’s the full story, plus 12 others:

13

Global warming is turning green sea turtles in the Great Barrier Reef female. Temperature determines the sex of a turtle that hatches from an egg, and it's getting so warm in the northern region that 99.1% of young turtles are female. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: Mashable

12

Scientists can now genetically engineer changes in coral in the Great Barrier Reef. That's a pretty good sign for saving the Reef, since it means they might be able to make the coral more resistant to bleaching and other dangers. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: Inverse

11

We're still discovering& dozens of new species of coral in the Great Barrier Reef. This is pretty encouraging -- it means that, in some groups, biodiversity is up to three times higher than researchers originally thought. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: haveagonews.com.au

10

Dugongs

Dugongs (cousins of the manatee) are multiplying in the Great Barrier Reef. That's pretty surprising considering the damage the Reef is taking, but it's happening because seagrass, which they eat, is regrowing abundantly. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: National Geographic

9

Electrified metal frames could help regrow the Great Barrier Reef, scientists think. They put the frames on damaged parts of the reef, then let electricity run through them -- this helps the coral grow up to 3 or 4 times faster. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: New Scientist

8

Scientists are trying to re-seed the Great Barrier Reef with an underwater robot. The LarvalBot travels along damaged parts of the reef and seeds them with baby corals numbering in the hundreds of thousands. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: NBC

7

For 13 years, there was a Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands. Gay activists formed it in 2004 to protest Australia refusing to recognize same-sex marriages. They dissolved it in 2017, when SSM became legal. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: De Facto Borders

6

Coral Sperm

Scientists are trying to save the Great Barrier Reef with a sperm bank for coral. Coral makes sperm, so scientists are freezing samples in a sperm bank. Their goal is to have the sperm of all the 400-odd coral species in the Reef. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: National Geographic

5

The Great Barrier Reef is about the same size as, say, Japan, Germany, or Italy. PENGDAND Amsterdam DES Birmingham ondon BELGIUM to amptong E Brussels Bonn Channel Danut English tux'bg. Mug rbourg Parisa Strasbourg LIECHPS BarnO Loire SWIT/ Million ADRIATIC FRANCE Nantes GenevoO Mt: a r OF Lyon MONACOO> Its area is almost 133,0 square miles, which makes it half the size of Texas. It's about as long as the U.S. west coast from Vancouver to Mexico. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: GBRMPA

4

The great majority of the Great Barrier Reef has suffered from coral bleaching. 93% of the individual reefs that make up the Great Barrier Reef-- 68 of 911 - have been damaged to some degree by bleaching. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: ScienceAlert

3

One of the biggest sources of harm to the Great Barrier Reef are, well, starfish. Millions of crown-of-thorns starfish are eating the Reef alive, adding to the damage from coral bleaching, hurricanes, and pollution. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: WWF

2

It looks like we might be able to revitalize the Great Barrier Reef with sound. Researchers found that playing the sounds of a healthy reef in a dead patch works well --wwice as many fish show up as would normally NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: NexusMediaNews.com

1

The Reef

The Great Barrier Reef nearly died at least once before -125,000 00 years ago. The Reef almost drowned then, during a warm period that raised sea levels. Once sea levels stabilized, the Reef began growing again. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM — Source: CS Monitor

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