eat again and again turtles plastic and die from it. Previously, researchers believed the animals would be confused in appearance with food. A study also suggests another reason.

plastic debris in the sea could attract turtles, according to a study because of the scent. A Team led by Joseph Pfaller from the University of Florida in Gainesville reported in the journal "Current Biology" that sea turtles respond to odors from plastic in which microorganisms and other living beings have accumulated, as well as on fragrance substances in food. "This suggests that turtles are not only the appearance but also the smell of plastic garbage are attracted to", is Pfaller cited in a communication from the magazine.

again and again, turtles are dying of gefressenem plastic or becoming entangled in the sea floating garbage. So far, scientists had assumed that the animals plastic to be confused because of the appearance with prey animals, such as plastic bags with jellyfish.

turtles responded with the same intensity as on food

The researchers at sat, 15 young, captive-reared Loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) on certain smells, and then observed their behavior. The smells were passed through a tube over a small pool. Among them were the smell of plastic, on which microbes, algae, plants and small animals have deposited in addition to the scent of fish and shrimp. As a control smells of deionized water and clean plastic were used.

the behavior of the turtles was, according to the researchers, is significant: In comparison to the control odors, they held their noses more than three Times longer out of the water, when the researchers began the smell of food, or of plastic with deposits above the water. "We were surprised that the turtles responded to odours from plastic with deposits with the same intensity as on their food," says Pfaller. Future studies would now need to find out what kind of Connections on plastic resulted in the turtles on the wrong track. (sho/sda)

Created: 09.03.2020, 10:18 PM