In Israel, a sea turtle recovery center is rescuing them from oil by using mayonnaise
It sounds unbelievable, yet after the devastating sea oil spill that occurred in Israel last week, some rescuers are using a surprising ingredient to save sea turtles. What is it about? Some mayonnaise!
Last Sunday, a mysterious oil spill began pouring onto Israeli beaches. An event that was immediately defined as one of the worst ecological disasters in the history of the nation.
Read also: Environmental disaster in Israel, tons of crude oil at sea and on the coast
Now oil has covered most of Israel's 120 miles of coastline along the Mediterranean and has reached Lebanon as well. A very serious problem for the environment and marine animals, given that we are talking about about 1000 tons of crude oil that are now found in the sea and on the coast.
Wildlife, including sea turtles, is now seriously at risk. Many injured and completely tarred turtles were taken to the National Sea Turtle Rescue Center, north of Tel Aviv.
“They came to us full of tar. Their entire trachea from inside and outside was filled with tar, ”said Guy Ivgy, an assistant veterinary surgeon at the National Sea Turtle Rescue Center in Michmoret.
Right there, as a natural remedy to clean up turtles, we chose to use an ingredient that we generally use in the kitchen, as a condiment. Let's talk about the mayonnaise.
First, the volunteers use vegetable oil to dilute the tar. Then, they switch to mayonnaise to remove it from the stomach and intestinal lining. At the same time, mayonnaise provides turtles with fat and protein at a time when it is not safe for them to eat solid foods.
At this Israeli turtles hospital, oil spill victims are saved with Q-tips and mayonnaise
https://t.co/XrmHbKrmHu pic.twitter.com/bmmlcY4wTJ
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) February 24, 2021
"If they eat normal food, it turns into a lump with tar and could cause blockages, which is why we don't give them solid food for the first few days," they said from the Israeli center.
This isn't the first time mayonnaise has been used to treat sea turtles and save them from oil. Turtle Hospital in Florida also recommends it as a safe and effective treatment.
But why is mayonnaise so effective?
It is an emulsion, a mixture of two liquids that usually don't mix, in this case oil and water. Since mayonnaise has both hydrophobic and hydrophilic properties, can interact with both oily and hydrophobic tar and hydrophilic molecules in a turtle's digestive tract.
Hydrophobic oil can mix with tar, making it thinner and less viscous; meanwhile, the hydrophobic ends are also drawn towards the tar, with the hydrophilic ends facing outward. This creates a barrier around the tar that interacts better with the water, making the toxic substance less sticky.
In Israel, the treatment appears to be working and the turtles could be ready to be released in a month or two.
Fonts: Haaretz
Read also:
- The mysterious oil spill that is leaving birds and turtles in agony in Brazil
- Oil spills: the Mediterranean is increasingly in danger, there are too many ships
