Pelicans
Dangers to Pelicans
Global Warming & Climate Change
Pollution
Plastic Pollution
"Consuming plastic leads to widespread scar tissue throughout the internal organs of these seabirds, which slowly starves them, causes kidney and liver disease, and makes them more susceptible to pathogens."
Researchers found that in addition serious damage to their stomach and digestive glands, birds go on to show outward signs including
Low body conditions - low fat which reduces their energy reserves.
Stunted growth
Shorter wing spans (a serious problem for migratory birds)
"as plastics float around in the ocean for a year, 10 years, a couple of decades, they basically act like a magnet or sponge, and they take all of the chemicals that we've put out into the atmosphere and elsewhere through things like fossil fuel burning, and they absorb it onto the surface so that the plastic becomes" as one marine biologist put it, "like a little toxic bullet.
It's... not just chemicals. Plastics that have been floating in the ocean for years can be vectors for a range of pathogens and diseases. So now we've kind of come full circle.
You've got plastics that can carry bacteria and viruses entering into an animal when it consumes that plastic, and then the plastic itself is breaking down the stomach's ability to defend itself — its mucosal barrier — and it kind of becomes like this loop where things kind of spiral a little bit out of control." - Plastic Pollution is so Bad for Animals it Now Has a Disease Name — 'Plasticosis'
PFAS
Oil Drilling & Spills
Ways to Help Pelicans
Prevent & Clean Up Pollution
Plastic Cleanup
PFAS Cleanup
Citizen Science
Utah
PELIcams 🦩 📷 "Pelicans at Great Salt Lake need your help and so do the scientists who study them!"