Winter’s rapid approach leads to a good deal of preparation and inconvenience for everyone. Aside from the land-related hassles the season brings, it’s also responsible for an incidence known as “cold stunning” of marine life.

Cold stunning occurs when autumn cold fronts move through and chill coastal water temperatures more quickly than usual, causing cold-blooded sea turtles to go into hypothermic shock. When this happens, sea turtles’ respiration and heart rates slow to dangerously low levels and their immune function becomes compromised.