Sea Turtles are Low-Key Living in a Plastic World 🐢 😭

The Deets

Okay, so, listen up, fam. You know how everyone's always talking about plastic pollution? Well, it's even worse than you think. Like, THOUSANDS of tonnes of plastic are ending up in the ocean every year, and no one really knows where it's all going. It's sus.

But scientists are on it, trying to figure things out. They're using sea turtles as a case study because these poor creatures are legit eating plastic like it's a snack. And we're not talking cute, biodegradable stuff. We're talking pellets, foam, bags, old fishing nets – the whole shebang. It's causing some major Ls, like starvation and messed-up guts.

And here's the real kicker: most sea turtle species are already endangered. So, this plastic sitch is just making things 10x worse.

Scientists built a whole model to estimate how much plastic is chilling inside these turtles, and the results are NOT it. They think there are about 60 tonnes of plastic just vibing in female green turtles right now. One green sea turtle can contain the equivalent of 10 ping pong balls in plastic. Like, seriously?!

Turns out, where a turtle hangs out affects how much plastic they eat. If they're closer to the equator or near countries that aren't doing so hot economically, they're more likely to be munching on plastic.

Leatherback turtles? Apparently, they're the most likely to be eating plastic. Big yikes!

The scientists are gonna keep digging, trying to figure out how much plastic other species are eating and whether turtles are carrying plastic around the ocean. They're calling for more data, better reporting, and open info so we can all work together to protect these turtles.

The Conversation adds that one individual green turtle can contain up to 26.4 grams of plastic on average.

Bottom line: we need to get our act together and stop trashing the planet before it's too late for these turtles!