To understand plastic’s impact on humans, scientists study Forest Park’s turtles

This summer, researchers from St. Louis Zoo spent hours in Forest Park studying what the turtles living there eat — and excrete. The work is part of a yearslong mission to understand how plastic affects the natural world. Dr. Sharon Deem, a veterinarian and director of the Institute for Conservation Medicine, talks about why she and her team are focusing on the snapping and box turtles living in St. Louis’ largest park, how to “wrangle” a sample from them, and what the plastics in their bodies could tell us about how plastics are affecting humans, too.