Australian scientists have discovered that mutton birds on Lord Howe Island have so much plastic in their stomachs that they clackle and crunch under slight pressure.

Lord Howe, a tiny volcanic island on Australia’s east coast, is home to around 500 humans and over 44,000 shearwaters, aka mutton birds, a species of long-winged seabirds. It’s one of the last places you would expect to be affected by plastic waste, but Australian scientists have made a startling discovery – the birds on Lord Howe Island are so full of plastic that the little stomachs crackle and crunch when pressed. Last month, a team directed a mutton bird and found that almost a fifth of its entire body weight was plastic. Until then, the most plastic they had ever found in one bird was 403 pieces in 2024, but that record was blown away on their most recent visit to the island.