#Researchers investigating the exposure of small mammals to #plastics in England and Wales have found traces in the faeces of more than half of the species examined.
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Some of Britain's most treasured wildlife, including hedgehogs, voles and wood mice, are ingesting plastic particles, a new study shows.

Researchers have sampled more than 200 droppings from seven wildlife species in England and Wales, with help from the public.
They identified plastic polymers in four out of the seven species – European hedgehog, wood mouse, field vole and brown rat.

This is the first-time microplastics have been found in any of these species.

Some particles were microplastics (plastic less than 0.2 of an inch in diameter) while others were microfibres (synthetic fibres with a diameter under 0.0004 of an inch).
The species with the most ingested plastic was the European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), the experts found.

Unfortunately, this species is already in decline in the UK for reasons that are largely unknown, and are classified as 'vulnerable to extinction' on the IUCN Red List.
The study was conducted by experts at University of Sussex, the Mammal Society and the University of Exeter and is published in Science of the Total Environment.

~ dailymail.co.uk