Sea Turtle Fun Facts

Documented about 1,000 sea turtles die annually from digesting plastic. Researchers at Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in Australia found that a turtle had a 22 percent chance of dying from ingesting one plastic item. 

Once a turtle gobbles 14 pieces of plastic, the mortality rate jumps to 50 percent. Another report mentioned once an animal eats 200 pieces of plastic death is eminent, reports Matt McGrath at the BBC. The researchers estimate that 52 percent of sea turtles across the globe have some plastic in their guts, but plastic ingestion rates are different around the world. Researchers found 54 percent of post-hatchling turtles and 23 percent of juvenile turtles had plastic inside of them compared to 16 percent of adult turtles.

“Young small turtles actually drift and float with the ocean currents as does much of the buoyant, small lightweight plastic,” lead author Britta Denise Hardesty of CSIRO tells the BBC. “We think that small turtles are less selective in what they eat than large adults who eat sea grass and crustaceans, the young turtles are out in the oceanic area offshore and the older animals are feeding in closer to shore.”

The physiology of turtles also makes plastic lethal for them since the animals can’t regurgitate, meaning whatever they eat is on a one-way trip through their gut. Even one small piece of plastic that gets trapped in the wrong place can cause a blockage that leads to death. Read more about this study: