Chapter 170: Chapter 736: Sea Lion Sculpture Made from Scrap Materials
"Fish are coming!"
The keeper shouted, and the sunbathing sea lions immediately perked up.
Food is coming!
Seeing the keeper walking towards the small island, several sea lions also entered the water and started swimming happily.
Through the glass, Tang Xiaoxin saw the sea lions' fins moving up and down, like paddles.
After a few strokes, the fins pressed against their sides, tails flattened, and their bodies formed a sleek streamline, gliding gracefully through the water with the momentum from the fin movements.
As they were about to hit a rock, the sea lions gently lifted their heads and flicked their tails.
They floated lightly upwards, narrowly avoiding the rock.
Sometimes they would spin in the water, making agile and swift turns.
When the keeper reached the small island, the sea lions swam over to join him.
One sea lion leaped out of the water, lightly landing on a rock at the edge. It supported its body with its fins, swaying left and right eagerly as it looked at the keeper, impatiently wanting to eat fish.
The keeper extended his hand, and the sea lion obediently touched its nose to it!
The keeper explained to the visitors through his headset, "This is a daily health check! We look at their eyes, noses, and skin."
The sea lion cooperated very well, and the keeper threw two small fish from a bucket to feed it.
Then he blew a whistle and started behavior training.
"Come, shake hands!"
The sea lion lifted one fin and placed it in the keeper's palm, then switched to the other fin.
"Well done!"
The keeper fed it two more small fish.
The visitors exclaimed, "Wow, so obedient!"
A child, holding a parent's hand, looked at the sea lion and loudly said, "I want to play with the sea lion too!"
The sea lion, excited from eating the fish, let out a series of rough barks.
Seeing its excitement, the keeper patted its head to calm it down, smiling, "Ah, eating fish is such a joy."
After the check and training, the keeper started throwing fish into the water!
A sea lion suddenly darted out, bit the fish in one gulp, and fell back into the water with a splash, creating a large white splash and causing the pool water to ripple.
It surfaced, shaking its head left and right, looking ready for more.
The keeper threw a fish towards Tang Xiaoxin and her friends!
Immediately, a sea lion swam quickly underwater, leaped out, caught the fish in mid-air, and dived back into the water, its movements graceful and swift.
Sometimes, seeing the keeper extend his palm, it would jump back onto the shore and touch its nose to his hand.
Tang Xiaoxin and her friends watched with wide eyes, clapping enthusiastically!
After watching the sea lions eat fish, Qian Keke said, "It's almost noon, let's go have lunch? Watching them eat fish made me hungry!"
Tang Xiaoxin replied, "Wait a moment, let's go see that sculpture."
Next to the sea lion exhibit, there was a sea lion sculpture!
But unlike other sculptures, this one was made of metal scrap and plastic.
The body was painted black and white, dirty and grimy, giving off a slum graffiti vibe. The back was adorned with colorful plastic pieces, drawing attention, and several loops of fishing line were wrapped around its neck. A patch of skin on the face was exposed, revealing the metal mesh underneath.
The most striking feature was its round black eyes, which looked somewhat frightened and confused, as if wondering why it was injured, making people feel uncomfortable.
The nearby display board asked, "When you think of the ocean, what comes to mind?"
In Tang Xiaoxin's mind, images of penguins, sea lions, dolphins, and other cute animals appeared.
Qian Keke thought of beautiful beaches, bright sunshine, sea breezes, waves crashing, children building sandcastles, and running barefoot on the sand, laughing and playing.
"The ocean determines the color of our planet, nurtures life, and is home to countless creatures...
But did you know that globally, 380 billion plastic bags and other packaging are used each year, and over 8 million tons of plastic waste enter the ocean annually? Today, plastic waste is threatening ecosystems, marine animals, and even human health."
Both were shocked by the number, 8 million tons!?
The beautiful beaches, sea breezes, laughing children, and cute marine animals they had imagined were now replaced by piles of plastic waste, littering the shores and floating in the sea, mixed with animal carcasses, emitting a foul stench.
Plastic waste has become a huge threat to marine life and marine ecosystems!
Larger plastic items, such as bags, straws, plastic bottles, ropes, takeout packaging, and many things we use in daily life, are called "macroplastics." Besides making beaches dirty, macroplastics pose a threat to wildlife, such as being ingested or entangled.
Some plastics, after a long time in the sea, get covered by algae and look like food to animals.
Albatross parents, full of hope, collect them to feed their chicks, which soon die.
Countless whale and turtle autopsies have revealed stomachs full of plastic.
A widely circulated video from a few years ago showed researchers finding something unusual in a turtle's nose. Initially thought to be a parasite, it turned out to be a straw. During the removal process, the turtle bled from its nose, looking very painful and struggling constantly. It took ten minutes to remove it.
Some sea lions get entangled in fishing nets, which tighten as they grow, cutting deeply into their flesh, leading to a slow death if not rescued.
Plastic is hard to degrade. While drifting in the sea, it gets worn down by heat, sunlight, waves, wind, and sand, becoming brittle and breaking into thousands of tiny particles called microplastics.
Microplastics are just as deadly as macroplastics, easily eaten by organisms at the bottom of the food chain, like mussels and plankton. They can't be digested and accumulate in the body, causing illness or death.
When small marine organisms eat plastic, it affects all creatures up the food chain, including humans.
Although the impact on human health is not yet clear, the effects on some animals have been confirmed.
Microplastics can enter biological tissues, causing inflammation or damage, and often contain chemical additives and various organic pollutants. Once accumulated to a certain extent, they cause serious health problems, especially affecting the endocrine system, leading to developmental and reproductive issues.
Tang Xiaoxin felt a chill down her spine!
Nearby visitors also looked heavy-hearted, shaking their heads and sighing.
"Perhaps humans will eliminate themselves."
"Hopefully, everyone will become more environmentally conscious. This pandemic has been bad enough."
"Eh, people only get urgent when it affects them directly."
"What can we do?"
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