Necropsy Results Dating Back To 1885 Show Plastic Eaten By 1/3 Of Leatherback Turtles Tested

[hatrack]

A new study looked at necropsy reports of more than 400 leatherbacks that have died since 1885 and found plastic in the digestive systems of more than a third of the animals. Besides plastic bags, the turtles had swallowed fishing lines, balloon fragments, spoons, candy wrappers and more.

Plastic was probably not the cause of death in most cases. Nevertheless, the study is an important wake-up call for a growing garbage problem.

"Eating something that is plastic can't be good for you, whether it leads to death or not," said Mike James, a marine biologist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. "It's not what they should be eating. And it's kind of scary that it is showing up in their diet to the extent that it is."

Leatherback turtles are critically endangered and highly charismatic creatures. They are big, weighing 1,000 pounds or more, with shells that can measure more than 6 feet across. These peaceful creatures have had the same basic body plan for 150 million years. Leatherbacks are also popular for what they eat: namely, large quantities of jellyfish. The problem is that plastic bags look a lot like jellyfish, and plastic often ends up in the oceans, piling up in areas where currents -- and turtles -- converge. That led James to wonder how much often the turtles were swallowing plastic in their hunt for yummy jellyfish.

EDIT

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/04/09/leatherback-turtles.html

[safeinOhio]

1. 1885? plastics

[hatrack]

2. That's just when the data begin . . . and I wish they had more on the weighting of sampling

:shrug:

[izquierdista]

3. Turtles have time machines!

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Celluloid dates back to 1856. No plastic bags, though, AFAIK. nt

:)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celluloid