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Ants may be the first known insects ensnared in plastic pollution

Plastic waste routinely ensnares marine life, but even small landlubbers are not immune

A photo of an ant tangled in a thin, red fiber.

This Lasius grandis ant, tangled in a thin, red fiber, may be one of the first examples of insects becoming tangled in plastic pollution.

Armand Rausell-Moreno

By Jake Buehler

Some Canary Island ants have picked up an unwelcome stowaway — plastic waste.

Plastic entanglement is commonly associated with aquatic and ocean life. Finding plastic-wrapped ants suggests that humankind’s pernicious polymer pollution affects a wider range of wildlife than previously thought, researchers report September 18 in Ecological Entomology.