The crocodile hidden 50 years at the nuclear power plant

Turkey Point nuclear power plant was built in the 1960s in wetlands in southern Florida, USA. The building has a complex cooling channel system spread 27 km2 to help release heat from nuclear reactors. For decades, many crocodiles in the region have taken advantage of this system to live, reproduce and recover from the risk of local extinction, IFL Science On 7/2 reported.

Chinese crocodile (Crocodylus acute) was first discovered at Turkey Point in 1976. Since then, the Florida Power and Lights factory operating company has tagged more than 8,000 small crocodiles. According to the company’s estimates, in the breeding season in 2022, the channel system recorded a record of 33 crocodile groups formed. This season also recorded the number of small crocodiles tagged and released in the third largest, a total of 512 children.

This is good news for Chinese crocodiles, reptiles are threatened from South Florida and some areas of Central America, South America, Caribbean. They can be up to 6 m long, although rare individuals exceed 4.2 m in the wild. They are similar to the US short crocodile (Alligator Mississippiensis) but can be distinguished by a brighter scales and a more triangular muzzle.

Chinese crocodiles thrive at Turkey Point for a variety of reasons such as stable water levels help reduce the risk of flooding, less disturbed by humans and are less dangerous from other predators. “This is a shelter for them. This place is quite safe. We have one of the most concentrated nesting areas in Florida and the US,” said Mike Lloret, biologist to work for Florida Power and Lights, award prefer.

However, Turkey Point is not the perfect residence. In 2019, the US fish and wildlife agency discovered that the poor water quality in the channel system is harmful to the crocodile and their habitat, leading to a strict warning from the biodiversity center. . One of the major concerns is that the salinity of the water suddenly increased in the middle of 2010, causing seagrass and algae to decline. This change spreads along the food chain, causing some crocodiles to starve and the number of individuals decreases.

Despite those challenges, Chinese crocodiles at Turkey Point seemed to grow better than those living elsewhere in the wild, facing hunting, pollution and loss of living environment. “The female crocodile comes to nest, the males come to follow the female, then any young born will develop themselves here. We have the perfect isolated nest areas that in addition to nature, it is gradually gradually gradually gradually gradually gradually disappears, “Lloret shared.