Wildlife entangled in COVID litter

A fish caught up in a latex glove. A fox entangled in a face mask. A penguin with one in its stomach. From Brazil to Malaysia, researchers have cataloged incidents of wildlife being entangled in the waste resulting from the novel coronavirus as face masks, gloves and other materials end up in the environment. Researchers from Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands and Leiden University have been collecting observations from social media, local newspapers and international news websites, from apes chewing on face masks to coots using masks and gloves as nest material. They published their findings in Animal Biology and set up a website, covidlitter.com, to let people submit incidents from around the world.

Read more at covidlitter.com.

PAID AD

Header Image: Researchers discovered coots using face masks and gloves as nest material. Credit: Alexander Schippers