Why use 'mayonnaise' to help sea turtles victims of oil spills?



At the Israeli National Sea Turtle Rescue Center, 'mayonnaise' is used to treat endangered sea turtles that have been victims of oil spills.

In Israel, mayo provides miracle for endangered turtles
https://apnews.com/article/mayonnaise-help-turtles-oil-spills-c5f679439e7a0f95fb79384978944cde

Why rescuers are feeding turtles mayonnaise after a disastrous oil spill | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/mayonnaise-sea-turtle-treatment-after-isreal-oil-spill.html

The largest oil spill in the country's history is reported to have occurred in an area of 106 miles (170 km) along the coast from Nizzanim near the Palestinian Gaza Strip to adjacent Lebanon. Local media first reported on the accident around Wednesday, February 17, 2021 , and as of 22nd, when foreign media Fox News reported on the accident, the coastal area was still covered in tar. That's right.

You can see the state along the coast contaminated with tar in the following movie.

Tar globs pollute Israel's coast after oil spill --BBC News --YouTube


The Israel Nature and Parks Authority, which has jurisdiction over Israel's nature reserves and national parks, has described the oil spill as 'one of the most serious ecological disasters we have ever seen,' with hundreds of tons of spills. It warns that oil will cause serious damage to organisms such as sea turtles.


Many of the tar-contaminated sea turtles that line the coast have been washed ashore, and some have been confirmed dead. Meanwhile, the Israeli National Sea Turtle Rescue Center has protected 11 endangered green turtles and transported them to the Mikumoret facility north of Tel Aviv for treatment.

Guy Ivgy, a medical assistant at the National Sea Turtle Rescue Center, told The Associated Press that 'green turtles came in tar-covered conditions. All internal and external trachea were filled with tar.' I will. The medical team then looked at mayonnaise to remove tar from the green turtle's digestive system. The idea of using mayonnaise to remove tar 'is to clean the trachea, break down the tar, and allow the turtle to spit out,' explains Ivgy.



Mayonnaise is an emulsion of two substances that normally do not mix: water and oil. In the case of mayonnaise, it is completed by vigorously whipping egg yolk, which contains about 50% of the ingredients, and an acidic liquid such as lemon juice or vinegar, and slowly pouring oil into it.

Mayonnaise egg yolk contains a functional lipid called lecithin , which keeps the oil droplets floating in the water. The molecules can adhere to water if they are hydrophilic and repel water if they are hydrophobic, but in the case of mayonnaise, the lecithin molecules cover the oil droplets, causing the water and oil to repel each other. It does not separate.

Due to this special structure, mayonnaise has both hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties. Therefore, by mixing the hydrophobic tar and mayonnaise that are stuck in the digestive organs of the turtle, the tar component becomes thinner and the viscosity also decreases. This makes tar more soluble in water and less sticky, making it easier to remove from the digestive system.



This is not the first time that mayonnaise has been used to save turtles that have been soiled with crude oil. A paper published in 2014 also reported a case in which a spoonful of mayonnaise was used to wash away the intestines of tar-contaminated sea turtles.

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in Creature,   Video, Posted by logu_ii