There is an ecological disaster of plastic pollution. Is there a chance that some animal will find a way to turn our plastic into food? Please subscribe to continue learning what makes life AWESOME: [ Ссылка ]

While this is April Fool's Day, it is important to recognize that extinction is no joke. There are species around the world that are going extinct due to our plastic pollution and other actions that we can change whenever we choose.

Plastic is difficult to digest because animals do not have the required enzymes to break it down into its smaller pieces. Without breaking down, the plastic remains an undigestible blockage.

For comparison though, most animals also lack the ability to break down cellulose into its smaller pieces. But that doesn't stop termites from using microorganisms that CAN digest wood as a way to get those nutrients. (Note: some termites can produce limited amounts of cellulose-breaking enzymes) But we have a possible mechanism for animals to break down plastic.

Next challenge: plastic monomers are all pretty unhealthy. They are (depending on the type of plastic) flammable, toxic, and possibly carcinogenic. A plastic-eating animal has to deal with the health effects of breaking down plastic.

And even if an animal successfully recruited bacteria to digest plastic, and also detoxified the resulting chemicals, they would only be able to eat SOME types of plastic. The other types of plastic pieces would be undigestible blockages (the way they are for every animal now). Maybe this future animal could eat bits of water bottles, but they would still choke on Legos. There is no way for the animal to know which pieces would digest or not. I think this is a deal-breaker that would prevent any large plastic-foraging animal.

If animals ever thrive off of plastic, it will be by acquiring nutrients through the food web, with bacteria doing the initial digestion.

As a side note, I thought it was going to be really hard to track down all six major types of plastic with the objects in my house. Turns out it is absurdly easy! This would be a good activity to try, to realize how much plastic is in your life!

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