How Is Plastic Pollution Affecting Penguins?

Recently, my work cleaning up and preventing plastic pollution took me to one of Earth’s most stunning and rugged places: the shores of Patagonia in Southern Argentina. You might be asking yourself, “How much plastic can there really be in such a remote corner of the globe?” The sad truth is that plastic pollution travels far and wide and is now found in areas hardly frequented by humans. So, we went to Patagonia to understand the scale of the impact plastics are having on this sensitive ecosystem and what we can do to help.

My Ocean Conservancy colleague, Allison Schutes, and I met with Lara Resnik, co-founder of El Pedral Reserva, a wildlife refuge on the Peninsula Valdes, which juts out into the vast Southern Atlantic Ocean. This area is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage site and a haven for marine mammals such as southern right whales, sea lions, elephant seals and dozens of other ocean animals that can be seen throughout the year. The star of the show and focus of our trip was a colony of around 15,000 Magellanic penguins. One of 18 penguin species worldwide, this flightless bird flaunts a unique black and white feather pattern on the side of its body and head. Resnik and her team operate safe, conservation-first excursions so visitors like us can experience these charismatic waddlers in their nesting environment.

Never miss an update

Enter your email and never miss an update

Sorry, but we failed to add you to the list. Please try again or contact 1.888.780.6763

Enter Your Email

...loading

Thanks for signing up for Ocean Conservancy emails.

However, even in such a remote, protected area as Peninsula Valdes, alongside the penguins were plastics scattered across the pebbled shores. Large plastic fish-storage boxes, rope and line were mixed among plastic bottles and countless pieces of unidentifiable colored plastics. Some were lost from nearby fishing vessels, while other plastics clearly had weathered through great distances in the ocean before ending up there. 

All marine animals in this highly biodiverse region are impacted by plastics, but penguins are especially vulnerable as they have to come onshore to nest in and among plastic pollution. A study in 2021 observed the stomach contents of diseased Magellanic penguins and found that half of them had ingested plastics. One individual had ingested 21 pieces of trash. Other studies on penguin species have found similar results. 

Resnik often witnesses penguins becoming stuck or tangled in plastic pollution, such as fishing line, which restrains their movement and can lead to death.

“Every year, before the penguins return from their feeding migration, we clean up their habitat to maintain its pristine condition. However, more efforts are needed as the contamination problem grows larger each year,” said Resnik.

Each year for Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup® (ICC), we spotlight an ocean animal to remind us why we clean up our shorelines, ocean and waterways: to protect beloved ocean animals that deserve trash-free habitats. Following our encounter with these charismatic birds and seeing how they have been so impacted by plastic pollution, we were inspired to feature the Magellanic penguin as the 2024 ICC marine animal.

At Ocean Conservancy, we’ve been digging deep on how plastics are impacting animals across our ocean, and we can’t wait to share more about it with you. Until then, join me and countless other ocean lovers this Plastic Free July in making small changes in our daily lives to avoid unnecessary single-use plastics and reuse and recycle when we can. Cleanups, like the ones we joined in Patagonia, remind us that our individual actions matter and help protect the animals we love. 

You can get involved in the fight to save marine animals from plastic pollution: Take action with Ocean Conservancy, then tell your friends, family and community about how our trash and plastics impact marine life and ecosystems worldwide and volunteer for this year’s International Coastal Cleanup. You can also clean up anywhere, anytime and track it with our Clean Swell® app. Protecting penguins and other sea life from the impacts of plastic pollution will take all of us doing our part.

The post How Is Plastic Pollution Affecting Penguins? appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.

from Ocean Conservancy https://ift.tt/uaKAYDV https://ift.tt/bjVDroy

Meet the Magnificent Frigatebird

Move over, Jack Sparrow: Not all pirates are humans after all. Enter frigatebirds (Fregatidae), a family of seabirds comprised of five unique species. While all five of these seabirds are captivating in their own right, one species has earned itself quite the reputation: the Magnificent frigatebird (Fregata magnificens). Let’s dive in and learn about the curious case of the “pirate birds” of the ocean.

Commonly found in tropical areas like the Caribbean, Magnificent frigatebirds boast many features that set the species apart from other seabirds. While they typically weigh no more than 5.5 pounds as adults, their wingspan can grow to a staggering seven feet in length. This gives them the distinction of having the largest wingspan/body-weight ratio of not just any seabird but of any bird on Earth. 

Love ocean content?

Enter your email and never miss an update

Sorry, but we failed to add you to the list. Please try again or contact 1.888.780.6763

Enter Your Email

...loading

Thanks for signing up for Ocean Conservancy emails.

Another curious feature that makes these birds unique is that, unlike most seabirds, they must (ironically) avoid the water as much as possible. While most seabirds have “waterproofing” on their wings, thanks to a substance called preen oil produced by specialized glands, frigatebirds lack this feature. If their wings are wet for more than a couple of minutes, they become waterlogged and too heavy for flight.

Frigatebirds, however, have adapted to this inconvenience in several ways. First, to avoid water, they can remain airborne for up to a month  without needing to touch land. Their forked tails make their bodies incredibly aerodynamic, and they even can sleep (well, nap) while flying. They do so by utilizing only half their brain at a time and sleeping for short 10-second bursts while strategically riding on rising air currents. Though this sleep may not be as restful as the 12 or so hours a day they get while on land, it’s sufficient for them to remain suspended in the air until they can make it to land or find their next meal to sustain their energy.

Magnificent frigatebirds get their name from their hunting strategy, which could more aptly be called their “piracy strategy.” While many seabirds hunt by diving into the water to snap up fish or foraging through tidepools to find crabs or urchins, the Magnificent frigatebird has to be a bit more creative, thanks to that annoying lack of waterproofing. The species very often resorts to what’s been called “kleptoparasitic” behavior, in which they’ll chase other birds down, grab them by their tails and shake them until they regurgitate recently consumed food, which the Magnificents then consume before it hits the water. Hey, piracy has never been pretty, right? This display of stealing food is so common that young frigatebirds have been known to imitate the behavior that they see in adults—juveniles are often seen chasing each other with sticks in their mouths, practicing knocking resources away from other birds.

While this behavior of Magnificent frigatebirds is certainly not the most charming, the courting and childrearing habits of the species might make up for it. First, the mate-selection process for these animals is an absolute spectacle to behold. When breeding, multiple males will approach a female, inflating their trademark bright red throat pouches. When a male’s bill vibrates against its pouch, a sharp drumming sound is made, accompanied by vocalized shrieks to impress the female. They’ll also engage in acrobatic twists and turns in the air, doing everything in their power to earn the female’s attention.

Once a female has selected her mate, the pair will bond for about three to five days. After mating, both parents take turns incubating a single egg. During their alternating incubating sessions, males will collect sticks and twigs while off duty, and females will assemble the collected items into a nest. Once a baby frigatebird hatches, fathers will keep watch over the hatchling for up to 90 days, and females will then care for the juvenile bird until it matures over the next nine months. Nests must never be left alone, as other frigatebirds are known to prey upon vulnerable eggs and hatchlings. Incredibly, this year-long childrearing process distinguishes Magnificent frigatebirds as having the longest duration of offspring care known to date in the bird world.

While Magnificent frigatebirds may have an alarmingly pirate-like side to them thanks to their hunting behaviors, there’s no doubt that all in all, these seabirds live up to their name and demonstrate the wonder of adaptation and the resilience of species designed for exactly the environments they thrive in. 

Help protect wildlife like frigatebirds, the ecosystems they depend on and the ocean we all hold so dear. Take action with Ocean Conservancy’s Action Center today.

The post Meet the Magnificent Frigatebird appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.

from Ocean Conservancy https://ift.tt/fBzpVCx

Celebrating the Legacy of #TeamSeas

Last week we saw a momentous celebration of an incredible collaboration. #TeamSeas has surpassed the goal of removing 30 million pounds of trash from our ocean. This global, groundbreaking partnership removed more than 34 million pounds, leaving our beaches and ocean cleaner for the people and animals who rely on them. 

 Like everyone at Ocean Conservancy, I am incredibly proud of the accomplishments of #TeamSeas. The primary mission that brought us together was urgent: Raise $30 million dollars to remove 30 million pounds of plastics and other trash from our ocean, rivers and beaches. But we did more than that. 

Never miss an update

Enter your email and never miss an update

Sorry, but we failed to add you to the list. Please try again or contact 1.888.780.6763

Enter Your Email

...loading

Thanks for signing up for Ocean Conservancy emails.

We improved international shorelines for the people and species that call them home. Across 73 countries, with more than 172,000 volunteers around the world, we cleaned up the habitat for countless, diverse ocean creatures, helping to restore natural beauty to these places in the process. From an atoll in the Seychelles to the coral reefs of Anegada in the British Virgin Islands, we demonstrated that our unparalleled network of International Coastal Cleanup®(ICC) coordinators and Global Ghost Gear Initiative®(GGGI) members could achieve more than any organization or any person working alone could hope to accomplish. Even with #TeamSeas officially over, I can assure you that the ICC will continue to activate volunteers internationally for shoreline trash removal, and GGGI will keep working to solve the problem of abandoned fishing gear, as this work is vital to the health of our ocean.

More than 40,000 people across every social platform created #TeamSeas content, including several hundred of the internet’s top creators, like Marques Brownlee, Hank Green, Azzy as well as Sofia Nygaard, Dhar Mann, LinusTechTips, Alan Walker, The Infographics Show, Colin & Samir and TommyInnit.  Altogether, the campaign amassed more than 1.3 billion views from #TeamSeas-tagged videos and generated donations every single day of the campaign. As the official Ocean and Beaches partner of the campaign, Ocean Conservancy conducted nearly 2,000 beach, underwater and “ghost gear” (abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear) cleanups. Tens of thousands of individuals contributed their time and effort, and together, #TeamSeas and our partners removed more than 34 million pounds of trash (ahead of schedule no less). And together, we demonstrated the power of inspiration for our ocean to achieve globally significant results. 

This win belongs to everyone! Thank you to the massive number of volunteers, donors, leaders, ICC coordinators, GGGI members and Ocean Conservancy partners. We could never have done this work without the inspired influence and leadership of campaign co-founders MrBeast and Mark Rober and the thousands of other creators who spread the word. They helped Ocean Conservancy reach new audiences, set an ambitious goal and collaborate in all kinds of innovative ways. We surprised ourselves with how much we were able to accomplish for our ocean. We owe immense thanks to every person who shared #TeamSeas content, donated to the largest crowd-funded campaign in history, signed up for a cleanup or went the extra mile and created their own. Even though we’ve blown past the goals of the #TeamSeas campaign, collecting more than 4 million additional pounds of trash, our International Coastal Cleanup continues stronger than ever. In fact, 2025 marks the ICC’s 40-year anniversary, and we can’t wait to see you out in full force again this September! 

Stay connected to our movement for a more protected ocean.

The post Celebrating the Legacy of #TeamSeas appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.

from Ocean Conservancy https://ift.tt/UvsN73G

What is a Gummy Squirrel?

The name “gummy squirrel” seems more fitting for a dangerously delicious confection dreamt up by Willy Wonka, but you may be surprised to learn it is actually a sea cucumber found in the deep ocean. While its name is inspired by its resemblance to gummy candy, to me, this weirdo looks a bit more like a banana-shaped Runt that didn’t pass quality control. Sweet looks aside, this sea cucumber is a fascinating creature only found hidden in the deep ocean. 

Love ocean content?

Enter your email and never miss an update

Sorry, but we failed to add you to the list. Please try again or contact 1.888.780.6763

Enter Your Email

...loading

Thanks for signing up for Ocean Conservancy emails.

The gummy squirrel is about two feet long—large for a sea cucumber, which is typically four to 12 inches in length. Under its bright yellow topside, it has a beautiful bouquet of 18 feeding palps, or “lips,” that help it ingest nutrient-rich detritus that sinks to the ocean floor. The big tail that inspired the “squirrel” part of its name functions like a sail on a boat, helping it to hitch a ride on currents to new parts of the ocean floor with more food to eat. 

Scientists first discovered the gummy squirrel in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a large stretch of the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Mexico. This area is hard to explore because it is located approximately 16,000 feet below sea level. We are only just beginning to have the tools to explore deep-ocean areas such as this. The gummy squirrel is just one of many deep-sea mysteries we have recently had the chance to meet. In 202,a team of scientists found more than 5,000 new species in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, proving there is so much more we have to learn about this region of our ocean. 

Yet even this remote zone of the ocean is facing a new threat from industry: deep-sea mining. 

Deep-sea mining is the practice of removing mineral deposits from the ocean floor at depths below 200 meters. Interest in this type of mining is rapidly growing all over the world, and we must act quickly to protect gummy squirrels and all the mysterious creatures we have yet to discover. Seabed mining would deploy massive machines down into these deep-sea habitats that would destroy these incredible ocean ecosystems that have developed over tens of millions of years to survive extreme pressure, darkness and incredibly tough conditions. We could see environmental destruction akin to mountaintop coal removal, wiping out entire habitats and species. If we don’t act now, we could lose wildlife we haven’t even had the chance to meet yet! Imagine how much duller our lives would be without the joy of discovering deep-sea darlings like the gummy squirrel, vampire squid or dumbo octopus. We have an historic opportunity to prevent an environmental disaster before it even starts. Take action to halt seabed mining in its tracks.

The post What is a Gummy Squirrel? appeared first on Ocean Conservancy.

from Ocean Conservancy https://ift.tt/vYiH5Ls https://ift.tt/e0Z56NC