Plastic garbage has become an unwanted stowaway for some Canary Island ants.
Aquatic and ocean life are frequently linked to plastic entanglement. Researchers publish September 18 in Ecological Entomology that finding plastic-wrapped ants implies that humankind’s destructive polymer pollution affects a wider spectrum of species than previously believed.
While examining 113 ants they had captured from the volcanic island of La Palma, scientists found the intertwined insects. A monomorium ant was wrapped in a black fibre, and one Lasius grandis ant was entangled in a thin red fibre. The ants’ body and legs were wrapped in fibres that, upon chemical and physical examination, proved to be composed of plastic. Read more-