Plastic smells like food to sea turtles, scientists say

[Mike Wehner]

• Plastics in the ocean smell like food to sea turtles, a new study published in Current Biology reveals.
• Plastic waste catches microorganisms and algae, becoming indistinguishable from food.
• Sea turtles are often found with plastic waste in their stomachs, and this study reveals why.
• Visit BGR’s homepage for more stories.

Sea turtles gravitate toward waste plastics in the ocean because it smells like food to them. That's the message from scientists in a new research paper revealing a possible reason why plastic bits are so often found in the stomachs of sea turtles, and why we as humans have a big task ahead of us if we ever hope to curb the impact of our plastic pollution on marine life.

The research, which was published in Current Biology, was conducted using over a dozen juvenile sea turtles who have been raised in captivity. The scientists experimented with plastics that had been soaking in the sea, finding that the scent of such materials produces a reaction in the turtles similar to the scent of foods that the turtles commonly enjoy.

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Plastic smells like food to sea turtles, scientists say originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 10 Mar 2020 at 21:10:05 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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