A whale shark swims beside a plastic bag in the Gulf of Aden near Yemen. Although whale sharks are the biggest fish in the sea, they're still threatened by ingesting small bits of plastic.
Photograph by Thomas P. Peschak, National Geographic Creative
A great bowerbird in Queensland, Australia, decorates its home with broken glass, plastic toys, and other pieces of human trash.
Photograph by Tim Laman, National Geographic Creative
A sponge crab wears a clear sheet of plastic over its shell in Edithburgh, Australia. Historically, sponge crabs put sponges over their shells to camouflage themselves from predators. This man-made covering is not adequate protection.
Photograph by Fred Bavendam, Minden Pictures/National Geographic Creative
Empty plastic and glass containers wash ashore and litter the habitat of a marine iguana on Ecuador's Santa Cruz Island. Marine iguanas can be found only on the Galápagos Islands.
Photograph by Tui De Roy, Minden Pictures/National Geographic Creative
A pair of curious rhesus macaques inspect a discarded plastic bottle outside the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Photograph by Pete Ryan, National Geographic Creative
A black-footed albatross tucks into plastic rubbish on the Leeward Islands of Hawaii. Seabirds depend on the ocean for sustenance, and the ocean is littered with plastic pollution.
Photograph by Frans Lanting, National Geographic Creative
Marine flora mixes with plastic packaging at the water's surface. Below, a green sea turtle swims away from the rubbish.
Photograph by Steve De Neef, National Geographic Creative
A Laysan albatross and a chick rest near a mound of regurgitated trash. Some birds with smaller gizzards can't throw up undigestible plastic, so they're more susceptible to plastic pollution.
Photograph by Frans Lanting, National Geographic Creative
In Hawaii, a bottlenose dolphin plays with a plastic six-pack holder. Such wrapping can permanently harm young marine animals, choking or disfiguring them.
Photograph by Flip Nicklin, Minden Pictures/National Geographic Creative
A pack of hyenas forage through mounds of trash at the city dump in Mekelle, Ethiopia. Bits of plastic are littered among leftover food scraps and bones discarded by humans.
Photograph by Karine Aigner
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