Turtles and Plastic – level 3

Global currents deposit marine debris from all over the world on Kenya's beaches which is a big problem for turtles.

A report found that 23% of juvenile and 54% of post-hatchling turtles ingested plastic, suggesting that young turtles are more likely to die than the adults by eating plastic.

Hassan Mohammed from the World Wildlife Fund said that turtles sometimes confuse plastics for food, thinking that they are jellyfish. Moreover, when there are a lot of plastics around hatching sites, turtles are unable to lay eggs and when baby turtles hatch, they cannot reach the ocean.

Out of every 1,000 turtles hatched, only one grows into adulthood, according to the WWF.

Difficult words: current (the moving of water), deposit (move to a place), debris (waste), juvenile (young), hatchling (a young animal which just came out from its egg).

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