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Great Shearwater, Ardenna gravis, in flight over sea. Plastic in ocean releases a sulfuric scent that prompts seabirds to forage. The scent is the same smell released by algae when it's being eaten by krill, a favorite food of seabirds. This olfactory cue tricks the birds into confusing marine plastic with food.
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Why do seabirds eat plastic? The answer stinks marine plastic debris is an olfactory trap for seabirds:
If it smells like food, and looks like food, it must be food, right? Not in the case of ocean-faring birds that are sometimes found with bellies full of plastic. But very little research examines why birds make the mistake of eating plastic in the first place.
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