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Cloze Test (April 12-16)

We’ve made this article a bit trickier by taking out 10 words. This is called a Cloze test. Read through the words in the Word Bank first and make sure you understand them. Then, read the article. Make sure you think about the best place to put a word, not the first place. Careful as you go, as some words may fit in more than one place. 

When you complete the activity, let us know by saying hello in the comment box below. This will enter you in the draw for the Friday prize! 

encounter
noses
cameras
revealed
attracted
entangled
mistake
food
odour
debris

The dangers of plastic pollution in our oceans were highlighted when a study found that loggerhead turtles plastic for food. The reptiles could, for example, mistake a plastic bag for a jellyfish snack, which gives off a similar .

Researchers believe this explains why turtles are often found in plastic. 

Scientists studied the reactions of 15 young loggerhead turtles to different kinds of plastic they might in the water. 

The turtles ignored clean plastic but were to ‘stinky’ plastic which had been in the ocean for some time. Once plastic is released into the ocean, microbes, algae, plants and tiny animals make it their home. This creates food-like odours, which, in turn, attracts birds. The study that it also attracts turtles.

The researchers piped airborne odours into the air above a water tank and used to record the turtles’ reactions. 

They responded in the same way to odours from plastics as they did to such as fish and shrimp meal. When the turtles came up to breathe, they kept their out of the water more than three times longer than normal so they could get a good smell. 

Plastic is rapidly growing in our oceans and poses a huge threat to hundreds of marine species.

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