Hundreds of species of marine mammals, fish, birds, and sea turtles can be constantly eating, but slowly starving to death when they mistake plastic debris for food, which can occur everyday. Scientists have estimated that there are over five trillion pieces of plastic weighing more than a quarter of a million tons floating at sea globally. Most of this waste ends up in the ocean due to poor waste management. Plastic does not biodegrade, but at sea large pieces of plastic break down into increasingly smaller fragments that are easy for animals to consume. Scientists are not sure why birds eat plastic but some believe it is because the marine plastic debris produces an odor that the birds associate with food. If animals are purpusly eating the plastic because they think that it is food due to its order then people need to take even more urgent steps to try cleaning out plastic from the oceans or at least trying to stop the flow of plastic into the river. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/plastic-garbage-chemical-attracts-hungry-seabirds/
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Gisselle PazArchives
December 2016
Categories |