Scientists confirm plastic is a new threat to the Andean condor in Peru
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Loading... - Cristaldo Azarel
- 28 Mar 2023
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While investigating the feeding interactions of the Andean condor (Vultur gryphus) in Peru, researcher Victor Gamarra-Toledo found something that concerned him — plastics featuring in the scavenger bird’s diet. And this was not an isolated finding. In almost all samples analyzed, pieces of plastic made up part of the food the condors had eaten..
“We were very surprised to find plastic in so many samples. When we finished our field work, we began looking at the birds’ pellets — regurgitated balls that are made up of undigested matter — and we were surprised to find an excessive amount of plastic,” says Gamarra-Toledo, a researcher in ornithology at the Natural History Museum of Peru’s National University of San Agustín de Arequipa.
An Andean condor in San Fernando National Reserve. Image by Victor Gamarra-Toledo.
Gamarra-Toledo also explains that such a high level of microplastics and plastics found in Andean condor populations is barely seen in any other condor group in South America. Only one study, published in Chile, looked at the presence of plastic in the food of condors living near a garbage dump — but the populations studied by Gamarra-Toledo live in protected areas. Read More…
